How To Become A Boat Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a boat captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

The job of a boat captain is to ensure that their passengers and cargo make it from point A to point B safely. This duty involves ensuring compliance with proper safety procedures, keeping up on boat maintenance, maintaining proper inventory of goods and passengers on their boat, and providing adequate training for all crew members.

Moreover, boat captains are responsible for staying in contact with the Coast Guard. As such, they must know how to use boat communication technology and be knowledgeable about maritime laws as well.

Regardless of educational attainment, a boat captain must have a captain's license to operate their vessel. To acquire a captain's license, one must have adequate boating experience, a passing grade on the U.S. Coast Guard exam, a first aid certification, and completion of medical screening and drug testing. Upon receipt of a captain's license, one can start boating recreationally or start applying for captain jobs.

The salary of a boat captain varies depending on their experience level and the size of the vessel they are operating. But in general, boat captains make an average salary between $56,000 to $84,000.

ScoreBoat CaptainUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,632

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.5

Growth Rate 1%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.09%

Asian 3.15%

Black or African American 6.97%

Hispanic or Latino 9.01%

Unknown 4.74%

White 75.04%

Gender

female 7.97%

male 92.03%

Age - 40.5

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 - 40.5

Stress Level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.6

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a boat captain

Explore boat captain education requirements

Most common boat captain degrees

Bachelor's

47.2 %

High School Diploma

19.2 %

Associate

13.4 %

Start to develop specific boat captain skills

Skills	Percentages
Vessel Maintenance	27.63%
Boats	14.38%
CPR	13.25%
USCG	10.87%
Safety Drills	5.17%

Complete relevant boat captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New boat captains 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 captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real boat captain resumes.

Research boat captain duties and responsibilities

Lead a platoon that earn numerous awards for jamming opposition force artillery nets and conducting counterattacks on opposition electronic warfare platoons.
Train to use an a defibrillator, and conducting CPR.
Train law enforcement personnel of several islands of the Caribbean on law enforcement and boarding procedure.
Deliver yacht from Europe to Caribbean.

Prepare your boat captain resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your boat captain 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 captain 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 Captain Resume templates

Build a professional Boat Captain 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 Captain resume.

Apply for boat captain jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a boat captain job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do boat captains rate their job?