How to get your USCG Master 100 GRT Near Coastal Captain's License under 46 CFR § 11.426

This is a much more complex path for people whose final goal is a Master 200 GRT Near Coastal, want to save cash and are not in a rush. The path we recommend takes a few steps but it's great if your low on sea days and cash right now.

Step One - Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal under 46 CFR § 11.427

First you are going to work on obtaining your Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal under 46 CFR § 11.427. You only need 360 sea days in the deck department, with 180 of them on Near Coastal or Ocean Waters. Most 100 ton courses include Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal as one of the USCG Licenses you can obtain. Most USCG Approved Courses can only be used once and only for one USCG License.

Side note: A lot of USCG approved courses for 100 ton Master also include a 200 ton Mate if you read the fine print. We recommend getting everything you're qualified for all the time so this means if you take a course that has an AND instead of an OR between the USCG licenses you can obtain with the course, get them!

While holding a Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal you are authorized as an OUPV on the same route which means you technically also hold a OUPV Near Coastal.

Now that you hold your Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal under 46 CFR § 11.427, you need to sail an as OUPV and/ or Mate for 360 more days and make sure you have another 180 days on Near Coastal or Ocean Waters.

Step Two - Master 200 GRT Near Coastal under 46 CFR § 11.426

The second part is to obtain a Master 200 GRT Near Coastal under 46 CFR § 11.426. You need 720 sea days in the deck department, with 360 of them as a Master, Mate or Operator while holding your MMC as a Master, Mate or OUPV and 360 of the sea days must be on Near Coastal or Ocean Waters.

The great part is that you can Increase in Scope from Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal to Master 200 GRT Near Coastal without taking a test or course. All you need is seatime once you hold that Mate 200 GRT Near Coastal no matter what the tonnage limitation is!

What about my tonnage?

To qualify for a 100 ton

If you have 180 days on vessels 51 GRT or larger OR 360 days on vessels 34 GRT or larger you qualify for a 100 ton.

To qualify for a 50 ton

If you have 180 days on vessels 26 GRT or larger OR 360 days on vessels 17 GRT or larger you qualify for a 50 ton.

I don't qualify for 50 or 100 ton with my current sea time. What do I do?

No worries! Tonnage limitations will apply if you are on smaller boats. This also makes sense as you will probably be working on smaller boats anyway. We recommend not worrying about them and just focus on getting the right type of license for what you currently want to do.

Tonnage limitations are really simple and easy to remove with just 90 sea days once you hold your new MMC! For a mate and a master under 200 GRT all you need is sea time while holding your license to remove them. Here's a blog post that goes into detail.

We hope this made your life a little easier and if you have other questions the MM-SEAS team is always here to help!

We do prefer to answer questions live with screen sharing to make both of our lives easier.

We hold free live virtual master classes Monday and Wednesday from 5:00 - 5:30 pm PT inside of mmseas.com under License Guidance and then Daily Master Classes.

Pro MM-SEAS members get access to our daily live master classes and office hours Monday thru Friday from 5:00 - 5:30 pm PT. You also get access to unlimited live 1 on 1 calls with one of our USCG Licensing Specialists. Pro MM-SEAS members can access these features inside of mmseas.com under License Guidance.