0.1 About the OUPV / Six-Pack License

What the OUPV / Six-Pack License Is

The Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels (OUPV) credential is the entry-level U.S. Coast Guard captain's license. Its nickname, the "Six-Pack," comes from its single most important limit: the holder may carry no more than six paying passengers on an uninspected vessel.

The OUPV is not a separate plastic card. It is an endorsement printed inside your Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC), the passport-style credential book the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center (NMC) issues to every licensed mariner. When someone says they "got their six-pack," they mean an MMC bearing an OUPV endorsement. The same credential book can later hold additional endorsements — a Master rating, a towing endorsement, a sailing or assistance-towing endorsement — stacked on top of the OUPV.

The OUPV is the credential behind most small-boat commercial work: six-guest fishing and dive charters, harbor eco-tours, sunset cruises on a small sailboat, launch and water-taxi service, and guiding trips. If money changes hands for the ride and the boat carries six or fewer guests, the operator needs this license.

"Uninspected" and the Six-Passenger Rule

The word uninspected is a legal term, not a comment on quality. Under the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, a vessel carrying six or fewer passengers for hire is exempt from the formal Coast Guard hull-and-machinery inspection that produces a Certificate of Inspection (COI). Carry a seventh paying passenger and the boat becomes an inspected "small passenger vessel," which requires a COI and a licensed Master — not an OUPV — at the helm.

Three traps follow from this definition:

• "Uninspected" does not mean unregulated. You must still carry Coast-Guard-required lifejackets, fire extinguishers, visual distress signals, backfire flame arrestors, and sound-producing devices, and you remain fully liable for safe, sober operation.
• The "6" counts passengers, not people. Crew are not passengers, so a captain plus a deckhand plus six paying guests is legal on the passenger count. But the vessel's own capacity plate and stability still govern how many bodies she can safely carry — on a small boat that plate, not the six-pack rule, is often the real limit.
• "Passenger for hire" is broad. It is anyone who has paid consideration — money or its equivalent — directly or indirectly for the voyage. Collecting "gas money" from guests can quietly convert a private outing into a for-hire operation that legally requires a licensed operator.

Tonnage Ceiling and the Operating Routes

Every OUPV is limited to vessels of less than 100 gross register tons (GRT). Gross tonnage is a measure of a vessel's internal volume, not her weight or her length, though "under 100 GRT" corresponds loosely to a hull up to roughly 65–100 feet. The credential is issued for one of three route designations, and the route you earn is set by where you logged your sea time:

Near Coastal is the fuller credential and the focus of this study guide: it subsumes the Inland material and adds open-water navigation. Because the Inland route stays in protected waters, the Inland exam omits the Chart Plotting module and carries fewer offshore-navigation questions. Practically, that means an Inland candidate can skip this guide's Chart Plotting chapter, while a Near Coastal candidate must master it. Everyone, on either route, still faces the same Rules of the Road.

OUPV vs. Master — Know the Difference

Candidates routinely confuse the OUPV with the Master license. They are different credentials for different work:

• OUPV (Six-Pack): up to 6 passengers, uninspected vessels under 100 GRT, no tonnage rating.
• Master 25/50/100 GRT: required to carry 7 or more passengers on an inspected vessel, and carries a specific tonnage rating (25, 50, or 100 GRT) fixed by your documented sea time on larger vessels.

If your plan is a six-guest fishing charter, the OUPV is correct. If you intend to run a 20-passenger dinner cruise, you need a Master on an inspected vessel with a COI. A useful memory hook: OUPV limits the passengers (six); the Master limits the tonnage (25/50/100).

What the OUPV Does — and Does Not — Cover

The base OUPV lets you carry passengers for hire, but a few adjacent activities need additional endorsements stacked onto the same credential:

• Towing. Charging to tow disabled recreational boats (commercial assistance towing) requires a separate assistance-towing endorsement.
• Sailing. The OUPV covers both power and sail, but to operate an auxiliary sailing vessel commercially your credential should reflect the sailing/auxiliary-sail authority.

Conversely, the OUPV does not let you carry a seventh passenger under any circumstance, operate an inspected vessel, or exceed your route (an Inland holder cannot legally run a trip 30 miles offshore). Operating outside these limits is a violation that can cost you the credential.

Validity and Renewal

An MMC with an OUPV endorsement is valid for five years from its issue date. Renewal requires proof of recent sea service (or passing an open-book renewal exam), a current Coast Guard medical certificate, and continued drug-program compliance. Letting the credential lapse can push you back through parts of the original application, so most captains renew before expiration rather than after.