Going for my boat licence (Qld)

[51MPL]

Hey everyone, going for my boat licence this sunday 09/07/09. Any tips from you experienced skippers out there? / tips for the test?

I've just found the BoatSafe Workbook off the qld gov website and im gonna have a look through that now. The course im doin with my mates starts 7am and goes until the afternoon so i beleive the morning etc will be some form of classroom/lectures teaching us the rules? followed by written and practical tests

So any general rules/tips people can give me? Cheers and wish me luck! haha :cheer:

[Feral]

Show up and pay the money. That will pretty much cover it.

Pay attention during the class, not because you really need to for the test, but because they generally teach you some interesting navigation stuff.

[tugger]

ther's a book the small ships manual covers everything you'll need on the water great for brushing up on after the coarse has faded in the memory

mark

[straddiebrad]

they pretty much give em away,when i went a few years back a person got there's after about two hours after everybody had finished with alot of help from the guy running it.

[51MPL]

ahh okay, thanks for the replies guys. Bit easy knowing it's not too hard though i guess? Hopefully all goes well during the day and it doesn't get too boring during the theory side of things

How long do you actually have to drive the boat around for?

And whats the rundown of the day? What i guessed? theory during morning then arvo is written test and then practical test?

[Feral]

About 12 seconds. Figure 8, emergency stop and if they are particularly pedantic, dock it against a pontoon.

[uglyfish]

And that's why there's so many wankers on the water with no friggin glue as to what there doing!

[BassTracker]

Mate theres pretty much no way to fail the test. But good on you for reading up and asking for advice, keep that up, any mug can get his boat license but to be a good boatie you should never sto learning and there are a lot of blokes on this site who know a hell of a lot and dont mind sharing the info.

[bootyinblue]

I would listen in, take some notes, take home any handout stuff given. Not cause it will help you pass the test (you just need to pay the money to pass) but because it may give you some basic boating skills and knowledge which will make sure you stay safe and enjoy each day out on the water.

[51MPL]

once again thanks for the words of advice guys!

like i said, hopefully all goes well i pass and then we'll take it from there.. look for a yak or chip in with my dad and get something a bit bigger who know's?

and in the future hopefully i'll be able to get a couple deckie spots so i can ask questions about how everything works etc so i wont be as 'scared'? first time out on the water lol..

[Angus]

Yeah dont worry to much. Turn up and listen and they guide you through it pretty much.

Not to say you wont learn stuff.

I picked up a tonne of knowledge when I did mine only about 12 months ago.

Its the kind of knowledge that people can feel silly asking but at the end of the day we cant know something we have never been told.

Angus

[nadders]

which place are you doing it at mate? some of the practical sessions are really dulled down and not worthy of the tag "practical test" and some are a bit better

everyone else has covered it though, do your own learning on top of what they teach you cause often its just a small starting point and not a good place to end your learning at all

[51MPL]

umm not sure exactly where as one of my mates booked us in

How did the day work when you took the test for anyone that's done it? (all day course that is) - Is it basically theory etc in the morning with a written test at the end and then prac test to finish off?

[bootyinblue]

I answered 30 multiple choice questions in a Government office about 50km from any water. Got told to go and 'revise' one or 2 and there you go sir, there is your boat licence!

That was almost 20 years ago and in NSW

[nadders]

for us, we had 1/2 the theory in the morning and half the group went to do the prac test while the other half finished the theory

then when the first prac group came back, they did finished the theory while the other half went to do the prac

then there was some more theory at the end

[shortie]

http://www.boatlicence.au.com/boattest/testindex.html

[adamfitz]

If you are doing it at Archie's you'll get a lot of knowledge out of it.

Navigation and chart reading is invaluable. THe practical side of it will be a quick figure 8, and then back to land, the jokes aren't half bad and the test is designed that you cant fail.

Remember to go to the Dept. of Transport within the 6 months of receiving your certificate (before it expires) or...

do I like did, go overseas... lost the certificate... find it again 12 months later... redo the test and pay another fee... ouch

[nadders]

adamfitz wrote:

If you are doing it at Archie's you'll get a lot of knowledge out of it.

Navigation and chart reading is invaluable.

mmmmmmmm have to disagree lol

i got such a small limited amount of information i would be entirely clueless if i didn't do my own reading ontop of what was taught

the practical was even worse, did not cover launching/retrieving, did not cover anything really but "take the wheel and turn the boat around"

[uglyfish]

Yeah I agree nadders,I done mine with Archie and we didn't even do man over board drills..like u said take the wheel do a figiure of 8 and that's it..

[Gazza]

I'm like Booty did mine in a office well away from water however you could only get x amount of questions wrong and you did FAIL that was 25 years ago :silly:

1 course I did years before that (not sure if they still run it) The volunteer coast guards seamanship course if they still run it well worth it

as far as a practical test go's I don't agree with em

every boat handles different docking a 12 ft tiller steer tinnie vrs a 22 ft stern drive as an example same for launching and retrieving

best advice IMO when you get a boat get someone who's experienced to tag along for the first few trips till you get used to your new toy and even after that take it easy till you really know what you and your boat can handle

Gaz

[burger93]

Mate which mob u goin wit i went for mine bout 8 mounths ago and got it easy just listin to all the stuff they say its actually very interstin and yea do a test which they give u the answars soo yea good luck haha

cheers sean