Sole engineer on a smaller boat: surviving your first season

Going from a team to being the entire engineering department is the biggest step change in yachting, and it's more about systems than spanners. THE FIRST WEEK • Find and physically touch every seacock, every isolator, every fire damper and every emergency stop. In the dark, if you can. • Read the previous engineer's handover twice. If there isn't one, write the one you wish you'd had. • Photograph every plate: engines, gensets, watermakers, AC plant, tender engines. Serial numbers save days later. • Find out who the boat's actual support contacts are before you need one at 23:00 in a foreign port. THE HABIT THAT SAVES YOU Write everything down as you do it. Hours, filter changes, oil, faults, what you tried, what fixed it. A proper log is what turns a crisis into a lookup, and it's what evidences your sea service when you upgrade. WHAT WILL ACTUALLY BREAK Not the main engines. It'll be the AC, the watermaker, the toilets, the tender, and something electrical nobody documented. Plan spares accordingly. THE PART THAT ISN'T TECHNICAL You are on call permanently and you will be woken. Set expectations early with the captain about what genuinely constitutes a night call, or you will not last a season. AND Know the limits on your ticket, and don't let anyone talk you past them. Sole engineers — what caught you out in your first season?