The profession one may have to choose depends on so many factors. Of course, the best is to choose a profession where you have the talent as well as the passion. If not, you may not have satisfaction by the end of your life. And in this article, we are going to tell you how to be a marine mechanic. If you desire to be a marine mechanic, you can get to know all about how you must proceed by reading this. Even if you are still trying to choose a profession, you can read this article and get a fairly good idea. In fact, this is a good choice if you have a passion for professions that are related to water transportation.
What do Marine Mechanics do?
This is a good question to raise before we get into the content. You would like to know what marine mechanics do before getting to know how to be a marine mechanic. Of course, we are going to tell you that right now. Basically, it is the water transportation workers who are responsible for maintaining vessels that take cargo and people over water. It could generally be inland travel or traveling across countries and continents.
But let us be more specific. If we take a look into the exact type of work that a marine mechanic would have to do, it is to adjust and repair electrical and mechanical equipment. It could be with regard to both inboard and inboard-outboard boat engines. Of course, a marine mechanic would have to work with Motorcraft engines powered by either gas or diesel. And this includes many types of vessels. It could be commercial or private fishing boats, yachts, cabin cruisers, and so on.
If you have an interest in this profession, go on reading. We are willing to tell you the most efficient and best pathway to becoming a marine mechanic.
Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair Hardcover – October 3, 2006
This is a good book by Nigel Caldera that you can refer to in order to learn about marine engines. Of course, you must be reading this article on how to be a marine mechanic because you doubtlessly want to be one. So, you should have a pretty good idea about marine diesel engines. This book will help you diagnose engine problems and repair them. Also, this would help you understand how to carry out routine maintenance of boats. Further, this will provide you with some pieces of advice to improve the efficiency of marine engines as well.
Know Your Boat’s Diesel Engine: An Illustrated Guide to Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair Paperback – November 8, 2007
Here is another book that we can recommend to you. This is also an ideal choice for anyone who wants to dive into marine mechanics. The author of this book is Andrew Simpson. He is an expert on this. So, you can learn all about marine mechanics from a top-class professional. That is why we are suggesting you read this book. You can probably learn all the essentials that you need. This book has received really good ratings and reviews on Amazon. So, this book is surely informative and insightful for anyone who wants to know how to be a marine mechanic.
Steps to be a Marine Mechanic
It is always to get into it step by step. So, let us try to get a fairly good idea through this. And here are the steps.
- Begin with your training
- Become experienced
- Get the certifications
- Maintain your certifications
- Become a master technician
Yes, you might be pretty interested to get an idea of how you must proceed forth in order to become a marine mechanic. In fact, we are going to tell you. Keep on reading.
1. Begin with your training
You can never become a marine mechanic without proper training. Your success depends on how much you have trained yourself to become a marine mechanic. Without proper training, what you do might not turn out to be successful. That is why we say that training is that much important and vital. Okay, what sort of training would you need to have. Let us tell you.
Mainly, you can attend vocational or technical classes in motorboat maintenance and repair. That would be important mainly for you to start off your career. Usually, motorboat manufacturing companies offer certain courses for their products. And generally, they do not take a big amount of time as well. You may be able to finish it off in about a time period of about 2 weeks. After that, you can get into work by performing maintenance on products that are covered by the warranties of the manufacturers.
This type of basic training would be sufficient to begin your career life. But starting it well is indeed a way to achieve great heights in your career. So, always be mindful to get a very good start. Get the right training.
Practical Boat Mechanics: Commonsense Ways to Prevent, Diagnose, and Repair Engines and Mechanical Problems Paperback – Illustrated, August 4, 2009
And here is a fine book for you to learn the practical aspects of marine mechanics. This collection of quick repairs lets you restore broken machinery in a pinch. It includes do-it-yourself maintenance techniques and schedules that will avoid the majority of issues from arising. So, you can get a basic understanding of the maintenance and repair of marine engines if you go through this book. The author of this book, Ben L. Evridge has spent 20 years repairing Kodiak, Alaska’s 1,200 fishing vessels, keeping them afloat in one of the world’s most difficult maritime conditions. He contributes to National Fisherman on a regular basis. Therefore, we can recommend this book to you first hand.
Marine Diesel Basics 1: Maintenance, Lay-up, Winter Protection, Tropical Storage, Spring Recommission (Volume 1) Paperback – Illustrated, May 12, 2017
This book by Dennison Berwick teaches how to maintain a marine diesel system, winterize it, protect it from heat and humidity, and summarize it to assure dependable and trouble-free service. It includes over 300 illustrations. Of course, with the use of this book, you will understand plenty of things about marine diesel engines. This book has received a lot of positive comments from its customers. It has also received high ratings, on the other hand. Hence, it would be a good choice for you to read this book and get an idea.
2. Become experienced
No matter how much you know things. Without experience, you would not be able to excel in any field. It is the experience that you have in whatever you do, that gives you the maturity and confidence to do something. It is this experience that gives you the smooth practice to go ahead with your work.
When it comes to the time period that you need to get experienced, a time period of about 1 to 2 years would be adequate. But indeed that depends. With the progress you make with your work, you would be able to master the profession perfectly. Yes, all this is mainly due to the experience you get out of engaging in the profession.
Doubtlessly, you cannot gain experience from a classroom or a lecture. This applies to any field in the world. And of course, even with regard to working as a marine mechanic, still you would have to become really really experienced. It is indeed pretty important.
Of course, you do not have to put in any special effort just for the sake of getting work experience. Just keep going ahead with what you are doing. You might sometimes make mistakes. And you can learn from them. Ultimately, you can become a perfect marine mechanic pretty easily.
3. Get the certifications
Getting the certifications is also another important factor. Perhaps you have mastered the art. And you may have had work experience. You would know how to engage in the profession effectively. Yet, there is a problem. That is whether other people know about you and your qualifications. Of course, for you to be employed with a reputation, dignity, and a good income, you just need to have something to show off that you have the capability.
And what you need to have are necessarily the certifications. If you have the certifications to prove that you have a good ability to engage in the profession, indeed that is more than enough. You would be able to go for a wonderful salary with a good reputation. And what else would you need as a professional?
In terms of getting the certifications, the American Boat and Yacht Council would be a pretty good place to get the certifications. In fact, they offer a variety of certification programs. And there are plenty of courses that relate to marine mechanics as well. Also, there are many fields even in marine mechanics. It can be regarding marine corrosion, marine systems, diesel engines, and gasoline engines. And of course, certifications in fields such as air conditioning, refrigeration, and electrical are also available.
Usually, a course would last only for about 2 to 4 days. Eventually, you would have to face the exam and that is it. Then, you can get your certification.
Further, you can also get your certifications from the Mercury University as well. But they offer you advanced certifications.
4. Maintain your certifications
The next step in our list is maintaining your certifications. You would know for sure that it is fairly easy to start something. Yet, it is really hard to maintain it. And indeed this theory applies to whatever you do in your life. Let it be a business. It would be really easy to form a business. But it is hard to develop the same business. And in fact, it is even harder to not let the name of the business get tarnished. All the same, you need to put some effort to maintain your certifications.
Is it hard to maintain your certifications? No, it is not hard. Anyway, it is necessarily important to do so. The American Boat and Yacht Council’s certification is valid only for 5 years. Afterward, you need to take a recertification exam. You can take the exam online. Therefore, it is not really a burden to maintain your certifications. Also, you need to renew the certified technician certification of Mercury University as well. For that, what you need to do is take up a minimum of two additional courses after the initial certification.
5. Become a master technician
How should you finish up your journey to be a marine mechanic? Of course, it is by becoming a master technician. Yet, it would not end here. Maybe you can advance even to much higher positions. But that is obviously not in the technical field. That is perhaps to managerial positions in the same sector.
But here, let us focus on becoming a master technician. Basically, you need to complete at least 3 certification courses to qualify for the Mater Technician designation from the American Boat and Yacht Council. In addition to that, those who have maintained Mercury Marine Certification in a product line for four or more years consecutively, then also, have the ability to sit for the master technician exam.
Important Skills you need to be a Marine Mechanic
We told you how to be a marine mechanic. But just becoming a marine mechanic would not help you succeed in the field. You just need to have certain important skills. So, apart from telling you how to be a marine mechanic, we thought of telling you the important skills that you need to have. And this would be pretty useful for you to engage in the profession as a true professional.
- Critical thinking skills
- Mechanical and troubleshooting skills
- Good sense of sight and hearing
- Dexterity.
It would be useless just to mention the above skills. Having a good idea of the above is also essential. So, let us take a look.
1. Critical thinking skills
Critical thinking is one essential type of skill that you need to have if you need to be a marine mechanic. Perhaps, there are situations that you would have to make certain quick decisions. Your thinking must be precise, though. Obviously, you must analyze the relevant situation wisely and decide on what you must do.
Of course, this has a wide range. You must indeed be so confident about the decisions that you make. In other words, you must make the right decisions. That is why good critical thinking ability is really important in all formats, and especially in marine mechanics.
Critical thinking is important from a small action like choosing the right tool to do the right course of action when and where necessary. If you go wrong, sometimes that can be something that you cannot correct. So, having a good critical thinking ability is obviously very important.
Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life Third Edition
As we told you, critical thinking is something that matters a lot. So, you need to have critical thinking skills if you have plans to become a marine mechanic. If you think that your critical thinking skills are not sufficient, you would surely have to improve them. You can refer to this book for that purpose. The authors of this book are Linda Elder and Richard Paul. Both of them are professionals in this field. Linda Elder is an educational psychologist who has taught college courses in both psychology and critical thinking. Richard Paul was a major proponent of critical thinking and remains an international expert in the area.
The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools (Thinker’s Guide Library) Paperback – Illustrated, September 20, 2019
This is another very good book that we can suggest in terms of improving critical thinking. The author of this book is Richard Paul who is a professional in this regard. And this book provides an ideal approach for anyone who is willingly wanting to develop his or her critical thinking abilities. So, anyone who wants to be a marine mechanic can refer to this book in order to improve his or her critical thinking skills. This book, on the other hand, has received very good ratings and reviews. So, we can easily recommend this book to you.
2. Mechanical and troubleshooting skills
Another type of skill that you need to have is mechanical and troubleshooting skills. Of course, your scope of work is mostly mechanical. So, having mechanical skills is a mandatory thing. Perhaps, you would have mechanical skills from your childhood. If not, you can develop them when you get into the profession. However, having mechanical skills is apparently pretty important if you wish to indulge in this profession.
In fact, having troubleshooting skills is also important. When you are working on something, you would come across a situation where you have to fix something. If you do not have the ability to fix it, it would indeed be problematic. Then, you would be creating problems rather than solving them. Hence, you need to have troubleshooting skills invariably. So, no doubt, both mechanical skills and troubleshooting skills are very important for a marine mechanic.
Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual 4/E Hardcover – July 2, 2015
Of course, mechanical skills play a major role in terms of a profession like this. This book by Nigel Calder covers anything aboard a boat that includes screws, cables, or moving components. So, it is necessary to know the mechanical and electrical aspects of a boat. This book provides you with a good approach in this regard. If you want to know how to be a marine mechanic, remember that it is important to know each and every mechanical aspect. Therefore, make sure that you refer to this book.
Mechanical and Electrical Systems in Architecture, Engineering and Construction 5th Edition
The author of this book is Frank Dagostino. This covers all about mechanical and electrical systems in architecture, engineering, and construction. In fact, it is a wide coverage. But surely, there are lots of useful facts for marine mechanics as well. Therefore, it would be important for you to go through this book and understand what it focuses on. This has received good ratings and reviews from its customers. So, we are not hesitant to recommend this book to you.
3. Good sense of sight and hearing
You must have good senses all the time. But when it comes to a profession like this, your senses must be perfect. This is basically with regard to your sense of sight and hearing. If you do not hear or see well, or rather if you have any problem with regard to your seeing or hearing ability, becoming a marine mechanic is actually not a decent career choice for you.
But just seeing or hearing something is not sufficient. You must have proper coordination within your body. Of course, once you hear or see something, your coordination must be really good to be employed as a marine mechanic.
4. Dexterity
Dexterity is another important skill that you need to have if you need to become a marine mechanic. First, let us get to know what dexterity is. Dexterity means the ability to perform tasks mainly with your hands. Needless to say, everything that you have to do is things that you need to use your hands. Any sort of mechanic would have to use his or her hands for almost all the tasks that he needs to perform. And yes, it is apparently the same even with marine mechanics. You need to be pretty good with using your hands in the right way in order to do things right. Because of this, dexterity is obviously a vital factor when it comes to the profession of a marine mechanic.
West Chester John Deere JD00026 High Dexterity Synthetic Leather Palm Utility Work Gloves with Touch Screen: Green, Women’s Small/Medium, 1 Pair
The use of these work gloves can improve your dexterity. That is why we recommend this product. This has a synthetic leather palm and a shirred elastic west for a snug fit. And it has gotten a touch at the thumb and index finger in both hands. “ love these gloves. I bought them two months ago and they have been my steady companions at work and they are still holding up strong, with just a little wear on the touch screen parts.” This is how a happy customer of this product has reviewed this product on Amazon. Perhaps, this is sufficient for you to get an idea about the quality of this product.
Dexterity and Its Development (Resources for Ecological Psychology) 1st Edition
And here is a book that you can refer to in order to learn about dexterity and its development. The author of this book is Nicholai A. Bernstein. And the editors of this book are Mark L. Latash and Micheal T. Turvey. As a matter of fact, this might not be a technical guidebook for a marine mechanic. But still, it would necessarily be worth taking this read as it would pave the path for you to get into a good understanding of dexterity.
How much do Marine Mechanics make?
Obviously, this is an interesting and important question. In fact, the mean salary of marine mechanics is about $42330 according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And perhaps, this is a good income. You can indeed be happy as a professional with a salary like this.
The Bottomline
Now, we have come to the end of the article. Sometimes, you may also have an interest in certain other professions. They might be professions in the construction field. If you have a passion, it is best to read and get an idea. Perhaps, you would like to be a masonry worker, electrician, plumber, ironworker, HVAC technician, or glazier. Just take a read and see for yourself which profession suits you the most out of all. And we wish that you would be able to become a successful marine mechanic in your life!
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