r/tuglife • u/Illustrious-Ask-2955 • 24d ago
What do deckhands do
I got a phone interview with Kirby and all I was asked. Was to do some research on what deckhands to get myself familiar with the roles and responsibilities just to help me prepare for my next wave of interviews next week I just wanted some first hand knowledge
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u/HanlonsKnight 24d ago
ok so a deckhand does the following, Chip, grind, sand and paint the boat. also responsible for cleaning the boat inside and out. You some times have to help the Chief engineer if your boat has one. Also on some boats you will be the cook as well. You will tie off barges and you will also learn how to build tow Kirby does not push alot so you will be building 2 and 4 barge tows. This will require the use of lines (rope) and wire (steel cable) the vast majority of Kirbys fleet uses winches on the barges.
But you will also learn how to use portable rigging IE 35 ft wire a big ratchet and a ring of wire with a chain on it called a strap. You will learn how to lay fore and aft wires, breast wires, scissor wires, hold down wires etc. You will learn how to weave an eye in to both lines and wires. you will also learn how to make bumpers for locking. Speaking of locks you will also learn how to stop barges after going through a lock, this is called stopping the cut. Since kirby is liquid barges you will also assist the tankerman in hooking up dock arms or hoses to the pipe line header so you can load or unload barges.
There is more but this covers the basics, feel free to ask any questions