USCG Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV / Six-Pack)

AI-drafted catalogue content pending SME review. USCG requirements change; verify every figure against the National Maritime Center and the current CFR before relying on it for an application.

Free

USCG-OUPV-M1 · The OUPV credential

4 lessons

USCG-OUPV-M1-A What the six-pack authorises, the three routes, eligibility, and the sea service that earns it. Practice in examiner →

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What the OUPV actually authorises

The OUPV is the smallest commercial licence the Coast Guard issues, and the most misunderstood. It is defined not by the boat you drive but by the people you carry. Get that distinction wrong and you will either buy a licence you do not need, or operate outside one you do.

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Routes: near coastal, Great Lakes and inland

An OUPV is issued for a route, and the route is decided by where you got your time. Three routes exist. Choosing the wrong one on your application is the most common self-inflicted delay at the Regional Exam Centre.

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Eligibility: age, citizenship, medical and TWIC

Sea service gets most of the attention, but applications more often stall on the supporting requirements. Four of them decide whether you are eligible at all.

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Sea service and recency: what the CFR says, and what the NMC applies

Every school will tell you the OUPV needs 360 days. The CFR does not contain the number 360 anywhere. Both statements are true, and understanding why is the difference between an application that is accepted and one that comes back.

USCG-OUPV-M2 · Rules of the Road (exam module Q100)

6 lessons

USCG-OUPV-M2-A Inland and International rules of the road — 50 questions at a 90% pass mark, with no references permitted. Practice in examiner →

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Two rulebooks and the line between them

Every other exam module lets you miss fifteen questions out of fifty. Rules of the Road lets you miss five. You may not open a book. Treat this module as the whole exam, because for most failed candidates it was.

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Lookout, safe speed and risk of collision

Rules 5 through 8 are the foundation, and they are word-for-word the same internationally and inland. They are also the rules most often cited when a casualty board decides someone was at fault.

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Give-way and stand-on: the three encounters

Three encounters, three answers. Every collision-avoidance question between two power-driven vessels in sight of one another reduces to identifying which of the three you are in.

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Lights and shapes

Lights tell you three things: what the vessel is, which way she is heading, and what she is doing. The exam tests all three, usually by describing what you can see and asking what it must be.

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Sound signals — and the difference that matters most

Internationally, a whistle signal tells other vessels what you **are doing**. Inland, it tells them what you **intend to do** — and it demands an answer. That single change reshapes how vessels talk to each other, and the exam knows it.

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Inland versus International: the deltas that fail candidates

The two rulebooks agree far more than they differ. What follows is the complete working list of what does not agree — and it is where the ten-question margin between a 90 percent pass and a fail is decided.

USCG-OUPV-M3 · Navigation General (exam module Q171)

4 lessons

USCG-OUPV-M3-A Aids to navigation, the compass, charts and publications, tides and currents. 50 questions at 70%. Practice in examiner →

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The US Aids to Navigation System

Buoyage is a language. Learn the grammar — colour, shape, number, light — and a strange channel reads itself. Learn it as a list of facts and you will be guessing in the dark, which is precisely when it matters.

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The compass: variation, deviation and the three norths

The magnetic compass points at neither the pole nor where your chart says north is. Two errors sit between the card and the truth, and the exam will make you walk from one to the other in both directions.

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Charts, publications and the Light List

Carrying the publications is a legal requirement. Knowing which one answers which question is a professional one. The exam tests the second.

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Tides and currents

Tide is vertical — it decides whether you float. Current is horizontal — it decides where you end up. They come from the same cause and they are answered from different books, and confusing them is the fastest way to run aground while navigating perfectly.

USCG-OUPV-M4 · Chart Plot (exam module Q172)

2 lessons

USCG-OUPV-M4-A Navigation problems on the chart — fixes, set and drift, course to steer. 10 questions at a 90% pass mark. Practice in examiner →

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The chart plot module: ten questions, ninety percent

Ten questions, and you may get one wrong. It is the shortest module and, per question, the most expensive. Unlike Rules of the Road, you may use the chart and your instruments — this module is testing whether you can actually work, not whether you have memorised.

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Set, drift and the course to steer

The current triangle is the one piece of real geometry in the exam. Draw it correctly and every current problem falls out of it. Draw it backwards — and candidates do — and you will confidently steer the wrong course.

USCG-OUPV-M5 · Deck General and Safety (exam module Q170)

4 lessons

USCG-OUPV-M5-A Required equipment, emergencies, ground tackle and towing, pollution and casualty reporting. 50 questions at 70%. Practice in examiner →

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Required equipment for an uninspected passenger vessel

Your vessel is uninspected, which means no Coast Guard officer signs off her equipment before she sails. It does not mean the requirements are optional. It means **you** are the inspector, and the first time anyone checks your work may be after something has gone wrong.

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Emergencies: fire, flooding and man overboard

You have six passengers who do not know the boat, no second crew to speak of, and no one coming for at least an hour. Everything below is written for that reality.

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Anchoring, mooring and assistance towing

Ground tackle and lines are the oldest part of the job, and the part most likely to be examined on definitions. Know the words, then know the practice.

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Pollution, casualty reporting, and drugs and alcohol

Everything up to here has been about keeping the boat off the rocks. This lesson is about what the law requires of you afterwards, and the numbers in it are examined precisely. They are also the numbers most study material gets wrong.

Aligned to the published USCG framework. Official source.

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