Your First Hitch on a Towboat: What Nobody Tells You

By Capt. Alan · · Rules and fees as of October 2026

On a boat where the crew lives aboard, your first hitch on a towboat runs on a 2-for-1 schedule, which works out to 20 days on and 10 off, or 28 on and 14 off. Most deckhands stand a call watch: 12 hours on, 12 off and on call in between. You live aboard, share a bunk room and learn tow work as you go.

The work is hard and sleep comes in pieces. Keep your life jacket on, stay out of the bight (the angle a wire whips through if it parts) and ask before you touch anything. That is your best shot at a second hitch.

This post starts the day the phone rings. If you are not hired yet, start with how to become a towboat deckhand.

Not every first job is a live-aboard hitch. Harbor and fleet deckhand jobs often run 12-hour shifts (say 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) on rotating days and nights. You go home daily and often must live near the fleet. This post is about living aboard.

Drug testing starts before you step aboard

Coast Guard rules (46 CFR Part 16) require the company to drug-test you before hiring you as crew, whether or not you hold a Merchant Mariner Credential.

Once aboard, expect to be in the company’s random testing pool too. A random test can come any day of the year, so stay clean on your days off.

What does it cost up front?

ItemRough cost
TWIC card, new$127 (TSA, as of Oct 2026)
Steel-toe bootsThe other big one
Work clothes, if no uniformsVaries
Gloves, hygieneSmall, by preference
All inAbout $300 to $400

Bigger companies often supply most of the gear; smaller ones supply less. Ask on the phone call what they issue, including the life jacket and hard hat.

What to pack for your first hitch on a towboat

Use one soft duffel, not a hard suitcase. Locker space is small, and you may carry it across a barge.

No TWIC in hand yet? Tell the company before you travel. Keep it in your wallet; you need it to walk a secured dock or terminal without an escort (TWIC guide).

Leave home: alcohol, firearms, anything you would not want found in a drug test, and anything the company’s policy bans. Read that policy before you pack.

The crew change

The call gives you a time and a place: a company office, a hotel, a truck stop or a fleet (a spot along the bank where barges are parked and swapped between tows). From there it is often a company van to wherever the boat will be.

Whether the company pays travel, mileage or travel days varies widely. Ask, and write the answer down.

Then you wait. Boats run on river time, and a lock delay can push a crew change by hours or overnight.

You may board at a dock, a fleet, a lock, or from a skiff that carries you out. Wear a life jacket for any skiff transfer. Hand your bag across first, then step over with both hands free, when the deckhand tells you to and not before.

Days 1 to 3: orientation

Before the boat gets underway with you aboard, Coast Guard towing-vessel rules (46 CFR 140.410) require a safety orientation: your emergency duties, where the life jackets are, how to keep from going overboard, your protective gear and how to get out.

Your station for fire, man overboard and abandon ship should be posted. If nobody walks you through it, ask. That is not being pushy; it is the rule, and they have to log it.

Learn names fast. Expect to feel useless for a few days. Everyone did.

How does the watch work?

Most deckhands stand a call watch: 12 hours on and 12 hours off, and you stay on call during your 12 off. If the boat needs hands for a lock, docking, a tow job or weather, you get woken up and you go.

Some boats put deckhands on 6 hours on, 6 off instead: 6 a.m. to noon and 6 p.m. to midnight, or the opposite. Ask which one your boat runs.

On a call watch you sleep in one block, but a busy night of locks can cut it short. On 6 and 6 you sleep twice a day in chunks of 5 hours or less. Either way, the first week is the worst. Eat, shower and get in the rack (your bunk) fast when you come off.

Watch change happens on the hour or the half hour. Deck crew relieves about 5 minutes early, dressed and awake. Food is usually ready about 30 minutes before watch change, so you can eat first.

What you will actually do on deck

Docking, departing and tow work come first. Keeping the boat up comes second.

On tank barges you will also help the tankerman, the certified hand who loads and unloads liquid cargo. Getting your own tankerman endorsement is the first big raise for many deckhands (deckhand pay).

Galley and bunk room

Meals aboard are covered. You will likely share a room with someone on the opposite watch, so when you are awake, they are asleep. Light off, door quiet, stuff stowed.

Only line-haul boats usually carry a cook. On most other boats the crew cooks for itself, so be ready to pitch in. Clean up after yourself.

Cell signal and Wi-Fi vary by boat and stretch of river. Warn your family.

Safety: the five things that keep you alive

  1. Life jacket on whenever you are outside the house

    The house is the boat’s cabin, so this means anywhere out on deck or the barges. Zipped and on. On the tow it is a Coast Guard rule, and at night it needs a working light (46 CFR 140.430). Most companies require it everywhere outside the house.

  2. Never step over a wire under strain

    A parted wire moves faster than you can react. Walk around or wait.

  3. Stay out of the bight

    Never stand inside the angle a wire or line would sweep through if it parted or came off.

  4. Walk the tow carefully

    Watch for kevels (the iron posts lines are tied to), ratchets, hatch covers, loose wire and wet or icy steel. Do not jump gaps between barges. Going out on the tow at night while underway is not allowed unless the wheelman approves it. Day or night, tell the wheelhouse and take a radio.

  5. Never put a hand, foot or body between two pieces of steel that can come together

    Barges, the boat, a lock wall or a dock can close a gap in a second. Never fend off with your body.

Lights and phones on the tow. Any light you carry on the tow must be intrinsically safe (built so it cannot spark and set off fumes). Point it at your feet, never at the wheelhouse or another boat; it blinds the pilot. On tank barges, your phone and lighter stay in the house.

If someone goes in the water, yell “man overboard,” keep your eyes on them and keep pointing.

Who do you ask?

Ask twice rather than guess once. Green hands who ask get trained. Green hands who guess get hurt or sent home.

Mistakes green hands make

Getting off the boat

You leave when your relief is aboard, not before. The trip home looks like the trip out: a van, waiting, maybe a hotel.

Hitches sometimes get extended when relief does not show. Ask at hire whether extra days pay the same, and book nothing nonrefundable for the day you are “supposed” to be home.

When does the first check arrive?

U.S. towing companies generally pay every two weeks, and some pay weekly. Your first deposit typically lands 1 to 3 weeks after you start, depending on where your start date falls in the pay period. Ask payroll for the exact date.

That first check may cover only part of your hitch. Set up direct deposit when you sign your paperwork, then count your days against your first pay stub.

Your next step

Already hired? Run your rotation and rate through the day rate calculator so you know what a hitch should pay, and do the barge mooring trainer before you report.

Not hired yet? Get your TWIC started with the TWIC guide, then fill out the free CrewChange application. It takes about 15 minutes, with no recruiter and no fee.

Ready to get on a boat?

Start my application →

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