shipyards

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Hello to all the welders out there!I am just finishing up a technical certificate in welding technology.  I am wondering if anybody here is a shipyard welder.  I would love to work in the shipyards but everybody seems to want to hire people with years of experience on a ship.  I am wondering if anyone knows why ( I am a certified stick welder in both plate and pipe). Thanks
Reply:Around here, the shipyards are always hiring. Aluminum Chambered Boat, in Bellingham, has a sign on the road all the time, they just signed a huge contract with the military- and they always need guys to run aluminum mig all day.There are probably 30 boatbuilding places near me, ranging in size from 10 man shops to hundreds and hundreds- and there is usually work somewhere. We only have a few left building big steel boats from scratch- Dakota Creek, in Anacortes, and maybe Nichols Brothers down in Freeland, but there are a dozen or two building aluminum boats, and another few dozen building plastic boats that all still need a welder or two for misc.I personally have never worked in one-  but I know tons of people who have. Its dirty, nasty work, especially in big steel boat yards, but it pays well. Usually pretty primitive in terms of the way things are set up- lots of arc gouging and running stick while lying on your back in the bilge water. The aluminum yards are nicer, but all the white smoke drifting by gets old.I think its a regional thing- up here in Washington, we have very low unemployment, one of the highest minimum wages in the country, and we are adding, rather than losing, manufacturing jobs every year- but it costs a LOT to live here, so it aint all roses.
Reply:Hey Ries, see you are from Edison.  I am from Mt. Vernon and work at Dakota Cr. in Anacortes.  Nice to see a local on board.Seabass.  I personally had 3 years work experience with tons of college and my welding certifications and was hired on the spot.  However there are also guys who went to Job Core and learned welding there and got jobs too since they are hiring so much here.  The difference is pay.  However my job has 180 people and is doubling it's force, a small yard who may only hire one guy a year or every couple years is going to be very very selective.It isn't primitive on our site.  It's just boat building.  Mainly Dual Shield welding with subarc on the large prefabbed seams and stick in the hard to reach or watertight places.  There are times when it's wet in the hole, but it's washington, get over it.  Some guys work in the aluminum big house and are dry and warm year round.  I was in there the other day and I didn't like it one bit.  It was a welcome to go back outside, however it is spring/summer so I may change my tune come fall/winter.
Reply:I am glad Dakota Creek is doing well, and you like it there. The "primitive" comment goes back a ways, to when buddies of mine worked at Todd in Seattle. But a few years ago a guy I know worked over at Dakota Creek, and he would come by and tell us stories about not having the equipment he needed- no plasma cutters, no mag drills, no ironworker- so everything was all gas axe work, and then lots of cleanup afterwards. Hopefully that has changed. I know guys who know the owner, socially, not from work, and they tell stories about what a penny pincher he is, but you dont build a big business like that by giving money away.I hire welders myself- but being an old hippy dippy artist type, I tend to pay a bit less, and have a nicer place to work- we do 90% tig, mostly stainless, in a nice shop with a good stereo. I get the arty type guys, the guys who want to learn more about machining, really high end fabrication, and blacksmithing, and are willing to work for a few bucks less per hour than the balls to the wall hardcore jobs at the refineries and shipyards pay. I mostly hire guys with a 2 year AA degree in Welding, usually from Bellingham Trade Tech, sometimes from Skagit College. I dontn know where Seabass lives, but if you can really weld, and have the certs to prove it, you come up here and somebody will give you a job. There are a lot of welding jobs up here, mostly in smaller places, building stuff as varied as wind generator towers, seismic testing equipment, farm equipment, aerospace stuff, and lots of boats, boats, and more boats.
Reply:shipyard is a very vague term.  i've worked in shipyards that use all stick and gas torch work that shared a fence with a multibillion dollar shipyard.  henry marine services, had a drydock built out of a hopper barge that he cut the stern off, next door was five hundred foot drydock for bender shipyard for doing navy ship work.  i know in pascagoula and in avondale (both owned by northrup grummon, i think) they are still hungry and only functioning at around 80% capacity since katrina.  which is why alot of the community colleges have very close ties with shipyards.   northrup grummon sponsors a few types of shipyard degrees tailored specifically for what they need.  from what i understand the benefits are good.  its too repetitive for my tastes and not especially stimulating, but hey, whatever your into.http://www.workingforamerica.org/too...se_study6a.asphttp://www.ltc.edu/curriculum/Progra...=480599&type=Thttp://www.ltc.edu/curriculum/Progra...=480599&type=T
Reply:Originally Posted by RiesI dontn know where Seabass lives, but if you can really weld, and have the certs to prove it, you come up here and somebody will give you a job. There are a lot of welding jobs up here, mostly in smaller places, building stuff as varied as wind generator towers, seismic testing equipment, farm equipment, aerospace stuff, and lots of boats, boats, and more boats.
Reply:I will 2nd the dualshield.  Hell, 95% of us college boys up in PA have dual certs TIG and stick pipe and plate, and the shipyard guys still want to see us run flux core.
Reply:Seabass - where you from? That would help a lot of us to help you. Try this link www.boilermakers.orgTennessee Squire Association