Relief Chief Engineer

The work is the chief engineer's job on a fixed term. You keep main engines, generators, watermakers, HVAC, stabilisers and hydraulics running. You manage the planned maintenance system, fuel and oil records, bunkering, and any surveys or flag inspections that fall during your time aboard. You also hold the budget and order parts. The difference is that you start cold. A good handover with the permanent chief covers known defects, the running hours, spares on board and the shoreside contractors the yacht trusts.

Size changes the job a lot. On a 35m yacht under Y4 or Y3 you are probably the only engineer, so you are also the AV fixer, the tender mechanic and an extra pair of hands on deck lines. On a 70m yacht you lead a second and third engineer and often an ETO, so most of the day goes on planning, permits to work and paperwork. With guests aboard you keep noise, smells and outages away from them and do the heavy maintenance in port or between charters.

Captains and management companies hire reliefs they can trust to arrive and get on with it. Most reliefs have held a permanent chief's position for several years, hold the right MCA CoC for the yacht's tonnage and propulsion power, and know the common engine makes: MTU, Caterpillar and MAN. References from captains count for more than a long CV. Many reliefs get work through word of mouth and a few crew agents in Antibes, Palma and Fort Lauderdale.

Relief work is usually something engineers move into after years in a permanent post, often because they want more time at home or to set their own calendar. Some keep a run of regular yachts and cover the same chiefs every year. Others use relief work to bridge the gap between permanent jobs. With experience across many boats, reliefs often move into rotational chief posts, new build supervision or shoreside technical management with a management company.