How To Become A Boat Crew Deck Hand: What It Is and Career Path

What is a boat crew deck hand and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a boat crew deck hand. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.9 an hour? That's $41,383 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 1% and produce 500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBoat Crew Deck HandUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $41,383

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 1%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.72%

Asian 3.95%

Black or African American 12.71%

Hispanic or Latino 9.97%

Unknown 9.45%

White 62.20%

Gender

female 2.22%

male 97.78%

Age - 31

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 31

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.9

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a boat crew deck hand

Explore boat crew deck hand education requirements

Most common boat crew deck hand degrees

Bachelor's

35.7 %

Master's

21.4 %

Associate

21.4 %

Start to develop specific boat crew deck hand skills

Skills	Percentages
Deck Hand	58.36%
Boats	41.64%

Complete relevant boat crew deck hand training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New boat crew deck hands learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a boat crew deck hand based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real boat crew deck hand resumes.

Research boat crew deck hand duties and responsibilities

Maintain engines and rewire barges and boats.
Wire barges together and apart, carry heavy rigging, clean and paint outside of tug boats.
Provide support and leadership to businesses and capabilities for security and safety requirements.
Provide operational and technical support to the company's fleet of tugboats.

Prepare your boat crew deck hand resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your boat crew deck hand resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a boat crew deck hand resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable boat crew deck hand resume templates

Build a professional boat crew deck hand resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your boat crew deck hand resume.