I get asked about crew more than about boats. Usually by owners who already hired one captain and are now doing it again.
The pattern repeats. The owner did nothing reckless. He asked for a license, he got one, he liked the guy, he hired him. Six months later there is a yard bill nobody approved, a schedule nobody owns, and a captain who says yes to everything and delivers half of it.
Finding the right person is the hardest part of owning a boat down here. Harder than buying it. The boat you can survey. Here is what owners get wrong.
Does a 100 ton master license mean somebody can run my boat?
No. A Coast Guard Master credential tells you what a mariner is legally allowed to operate. It tells you nothing about whether he is good at it, reliable, or right for your program. The license is a floor. Treat it as the first filter, never the decision.
Here is the part most owners miss. The endorsement reads Master of self-propelled vessels less than 100 gross register tons. Gross tonnage measures enclosed volume, not weight, and a boat in the 40 to 80 ft range sits well under that number. So the ticket is not a statement that he can handle a big boat. It says he cleared the sea time and the exam for a category covering almost anything you would buy.
So it does not separate candidates. Nearly everyone will have it. Use it to disqualify, not to select.
Nobody checks the route or the endorsements
A credential carries a route. Near coastal means ocean waters not more than 200 miles offshore from the United States and its possessions. Inland means navigable waters shoreward of the boundary lines. Different jobs. If your boat never goes past the inlet, an inland endorsement may cover the work. If you are crossing to the islands or running offshore to fish, it is not the ticket. Read the credential and see which route is on it.
Then ask what endorsements are attached. Assistance towing covers towing disabled vessels for a fee, a Sea Tow style operation, not running a tug. Auxiliary sail covers inspected sail vessels. Neither is a competence badge, so do not be impressed by the wrong line on a resume. Ask what he has actually done under that route, not what it permits.
How do I verify a captain’s license is valid?
Ask for the physical credential and check the expiration date. A Merchant Mariner Credential is valid for five years from issuance. Then verify it yourself. Credentials issued since September 2024 carry a QR code that opens the Coast Guard’s Homeport verification page, or look it up manually by document number.
A training school certificate is not a credential. Run the number and confirm the name, the grade, the route and the date.
A mariner cannot work past the expiration date, though the Coast Guard allows an administrative grace period of up to one year in which an expired credential can be renewed. That is a paperwork allowance, not a reason to relax about a candidate who let his ticket lapse and did not mention it. How a man handles his own compliance previews how he handles yours.
Ask about drug testing too. Credentialed mariners pass a chemical test for original issuance, raises in grade, certain endorsements and reissuance, dated no more than 185 days before submission. Commercial marine employers also run pre-employment testing and a random program with a minimum annual rate of 50 percent of covered crew. Whether your boat falls into that category is a question for your attorney and your insurance broker.
Hiring for the boat you have instead of the boat you are buying
An owner hires a captain for a 42, runs it a year, likes the guy, then moves up to a 65 with a real generator load and guests aboard every other weekend. The captain who was excellent on the 42 is now underwater and neither of them wants to say it.
Complexity does not scale with length. It jumps. Twin outboards to pod drives is a different job. No genset to two gensets is a different job. A day boat to a boat people sleep on is different again, because now you own hotel systems, provisioning, and somebody else’s expectations at two in the morning.
If you are within a year of moving up, hire for the boat you are moving to, or on a term that ends when the boat changes.
What should I ask a captain’s previous owner?
Ask what broke on his watch and what he did. Ask who scheduled the yard and who approved the money. Ask what he said no to. Ask if the boat was ready every time you showed up. Then the one that matters: would you hire him again for the same boat.
Those work because they are about events, not character. Nobody wants to call a former captain bad, but almost everybody will tell you what actually happened, and the last question gets answered by tone even when the words hedge. Ask why the job ended, then ask the candidate separately and see if the two stories match.
Then get past the list you were handed. Everybody offers three references and all three are good. Ask each one who else he worked for, which yard he used, which marina he sat in. South Florida is small, and the dockmaster where the boat lived for two years knows more than any name on that sheet.
Confusing a delivery captain with a program captain
Running a boat 400 miles and running it as an ongoing program are different jobs that reward different people.
A delivery is bounded. Weather window, fuel plan, watch schedule, arrive. A good delivery captain is decisive, comfortable offshore, and finished when the lines are on the dock.
A program is not bounded. Maintenance intervals, warranty claims, a service coordinator who does not call back, provisioning, guest logistics, tracking which impeller was changed and when, and being there on the Thursday your plans change. That is an administrative job with a boat attached, and plenty of excellent delivery captains are not good at it. Decide which one you are hiring before you interview, and if you want both, expect to pay for both.
No written scope, so nobody agreed on anything
This one generates the most anger and is the easiest to fix. Put it in writing before day one. Who buys fuel and on whose card. Who schedules the yard and who approves the spend, with a threshold above which he calls you first. Who does the wash down, his hands or a service he hires. Who holds the keys and who is allowed aboard. What notice applies both ways. And what happens when a part fails at sea, meaning who makes the call and who pays for the tow.
None of that needs a lawyer to draft, though having one read it is not a bad idea. It needs to be on paper and signed. Almost every captain relationship I have watched fall apart failed on something nobody ever agreed.
Day rate, retainer or salary, and what each one buys
A day rate buys a person for a day. It scales with use and buys zero availability. Call Friday for Saturday, and if he has a charter you do not have a captain. It is right for occasional use and deliveries.
A retainer buys availability plus a defined set of ongoing duties. A monthly number against a specified commitment, usually some number of days, plus the background work of keeping the boat ready. This is what most owners in the 40 to 80 ft range need, and the one they most often fail to set up.
A salary buys a person. Full time, your boat, your schedule. Right when the boat runs often enough that the job is a job.
I am not going to publish rates. A number without the boat, the schedule and the responsibility attached is worse than no number. But if you pay a day rate and expect retainer availability, you will be disappointed, and it is not the captain’s fault.
Employment status and insurance
This is where owners get quietly exposed, and where I hand you off.
Whether a captain is an employee or an independent contractor, what payroll obligations follow, whether workers compensation or a maritime equivalent applies, and whether your policy covers paid crew at all are legal and insurance questions. I hold a 100 ton master license. I am not an employment lawyer and I am not an accountant, and anybody in my position who tells you how to classify your captain is guessing with your money.
Before the first payment goes out, talk to a maritime attorney and to your insurance broker and get it in writing. Ask the insurance broker specifically whether the policy contemplates paid crew, and whether it carries a named operator or minimum experience clause.
Not watching them handle the boat
Do not hire a captain you have not watched run a boat. Get aboard and watch. Not a flat calm morning at slack tide. Watch a docking with wind across the beam and a current running, which is most afternoons here anyway. You are not looking for a perfect landing. You are looking at the approach. Did he stop the boat and look before he committed. Did he set up on the windward side. Did he say the plan out loud first. Did he take a second pass when the first was not right, or force it because you were standing there.
Taking the second pass is the answer. A captain who will abort a bad approach in front of the owner will abort a bad idea offshore. Watch him before he leaves the dock, too. Engine room check or not tells you most of it.
Ignoring how the captain treats the boat when you are not aboard
You will be aboard a small fraction of the time. The rest is the job. Go look at the boat he runs now. Open a lazarette. Look at the bilge, the lines, the strainers. Then ask for the maintenance log. A captain who keeps a real record of hours, oil changes, impellers, zincs and yard visits is telling you how he works. So is the one who says he keeps it in his head.
Hiring somebody who will not tell you no
This is the most expensive mistake on the list, and it never looks like one at the time.
The agreeable captain is pleasant to be around. He never pushes back on the weather. He never tells you the boat is not ready. He never says the part is aftermarket and you should wait two days for the right one. Everything is fine, always.
That captain will eventually take your boat out in conditions he should have refused, because you wanted to go and he cannot say no. Or he runs a season on a raw water pump he knew was tired, because raising it would have been awkward. The bill arrives all at once, far larger than the conversation would have been.
So ask him directly: tell me about a time you told an owner no. If it never came up, that is your answer. You are not hiring a friend. You are hiring the man who will tell you what you do not want to hear, on the day you least want to hear it, with your family aboard.
Where to start
I am building a vetted list of South Florida captains and crew at yachtfrank.com/crew/, because I got tired of watching owners hire off a stack of resumes that all look the same. If you are about to hire, or cleaning up after one that did not work, call me.