Last updated 2026-08-19
TL;DR
A six-pack in Arizona is a federal USCG OUPV, not a state card. Official user fees are $100 to evaluate, $110 to examine, and $45 to issue if you sit the exam. Budget also for TWIC, a CG-719K physical, a drug test, first aid, and usually a course. The long pole is 360 days of sea time, then NMC review. Confirm fees and processing with the Coast Guard.
How much does six-pack captain cost in Arizona?
Budget $255 in Coast Guard user fees if you sit the exam, then several hundred more for a TWIC, a CG-719K physical, a DOT-style drug test, first aid and CPR, and usually an approved course. Arizona charges no state captain fee. The state does not issue that license at all. Your all-in cash outlay commonly lands in the high hundreds to around $1,500, and it swings with training and travel, not with a Phoenix counter fee.
Coast Guard user fees for an original officer endorsement are $100 for evaluation, $110 for examination, and $45 for issuance under 46 CFR 10.219. [3] If a USCG-approved OUPV course waives the exam, you may skip the $110 examination fee. Confirm that against the National Maritime Center fee table before you write the check. [4]
Course tuition is not a fixed Arizona number. Schools set their own prices. Classroom OUPV classes advertised around the country often sit somewhere from the mid hundreds to about $1,000. Online-plus-proctored packages can run less. A glossy captain weekend that triples that is usually selling atmosphere. Pay for an approved course that issues a completion certificate NMC will accept.
The rest is local cash. A merchant mariner physical on form CG-719K costs whatever your clinic charges. In metro Phoenix or Tucson that often looks like an occupational exam, not a hospital stay, but nobody publishes a statewide average. Collection-site drug tests are cheap next to the license. First aid and CPR cards are cheap too. TSA posts the current TWIC enrollment fee. Recent TSA materials have listed $125.25 for a standard enrollment. Confirm the live amount on TSA's TWIC page when you book. [5]
Travel is the sleeper. Arizona has no Coast Guard Regional Exam Center. If you sit the government exam instead of using a course waiver, you travel. Airfare or a long drive, a hotel, a day off the water. Price that before you decide you are saving money by skipping class.
Want a side-by-side with another inland state? Six-pack captain cost in Colorado runs the same federal fee stack. Six-pack captain cost in California adds coastal sea-time questions you will never face on Lake Havasu.
Do you need a license for six-pack captain in Arizona?
Yes if you operate an uninspected passenger vessel for hire on waters under U.S. jurisdiction. Federal law, not an Arizona statute, creates the six-pack. 46 U.S.C. § 8903 says, "An uninspected passenger vessel shall be operated by an individual licensed by the Secretary to operate that type of vessel in the particular geographic area, under prescribed regulations." [1] The six-passenger cap lives in the federal definition of that vessel class. [7]
Carry paying guests on Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, Lake Havasu, or Lake Powell and you are in the fact pattern that statute was written for. Those waters sit in the federal system. Skip the license there and you are arguing with the Coast Guard, not with Game and Fish. Federal licensing also turns on whether the water is among the navigable waters of the United States, a defined term in 33 CFR 2.36. [13] Do not bet a business on a ramp rumor that "this lake does not count."
A private ski boat with friends and a cooler is not this license. A true bareboat, where the customer charters the vessel and you are not the operator, is a different paper path. If you are at the helm and they paid to be on board, treat it as passenger-for-hire until counsel who does this work tells you otherwise. I am not that lawyer.
Arizona still has its own boating rules. They do not replace the OUPV. They stack. A six-pack captain Arizona operator on the Colorado River chain holds the federal credential and still follows Game and Fish equipment and education rules on the water.
What are the official USCG fees for an OUPV six-pack?
The published user fees for an original officer endorsement are $100 to evaluate the file, $110 to examine you, and $45 to issue the credential. [3] That $255 is the Coast Guard bill if you take the Coast Guard exam. It is not tuition. It is not the physical. It is not TWIC.
| Line item | Amount | When you pay it |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluation | $100 | With the original officer application |
| Examination | $110 | If NMC or a REC exams you |
| Issuance | $45 | When the MMC is issued |
| Exam waived by approved course | $0 exam fee | Course certificate replaces the test |
Those figures come from 46 CFR Table 10.219(a). [3] NMC also posts a fee page. Use both. If they ever diverge, the regulation is the rule, and you still follow current NMC payment instructions. [4]
Renewals are cheaper on the evaluation line ($50 in that same table) and you still pay issuance. Do not plan your first-year budget on renewal prices. You are paying original-officer money this time.
Pay with the method NMC lists on the live fee page. Do not mail a creative payment. Incomplete fee payment is a classic way to stall a file.
What else do you pay besides Coast Guard fees?
TWIC, medical, drugs, first aid, photos, and training. That is the real shopping list for a six-pack captain Arizona file.
TSA runs TWIC enrollment. You make an appointment, get printed, and wait for the card. The dollar amount is TSA's, not Arizona's. Confirm it when you schedule. [5] Almost every original MMC applicant needs a TWIC. 46 CFR 10.203 is the regulation that ties the credential to that card. [11]
The physical is form CG-719K, completed by a licensed medical practitioner. [8] It is a merchant mariner medical, not a sports-physical scribble. Ask the clinic if they will complete that form before you sit down. If they have never seen a 719K, go somewhere else.
You also need a chemical test for dangerous drugs that meets 46 CFR Part 16. [10] Applicant testing is not a home kit from a gas station. Use a collection site that knows DOT or Coast Guard panels.
First aid and CPR certificates have to be current under 46 CFR 11.201. [9] Community colleges and standard first-aid providers are fine. Do not buy a novelty wallet card.
Then the course, if you take one. Then gas to the collection site and the TWIC center. Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas all have enrollment sites on a typical week. Rural Arizona may mean a day trip.
OUPVPath publishes a $149 one-time USCG OUPV + Bareboat Kit if you want the paper sequence in one place. The Coast Guard still charges its own fees either way.
How long does six-pack captain take in Arizona?
The long pole is sea service, not the application PDF. An original inland OUPV needs 360 days of service on vessels. [2] A day is a day you served, under Coast Guard sea service rules, not a weekend you thought about boating. If you already have years on towboats, park patrol boats, or a family marina, you might apply this season. If you are starting from zero on Canyon Lake, you are looking at a lot of days on the water first.
After the days are real, building the file takes a few weeks if you are organized. TWIC appointments back up. Doctors cancel. Course seats fill before spring break on Havasu. None of that is a Coast Guard promise.
NMC processing time changes. I will not invent a current week count. The National Maritime Center posts processing times. Read that page the week you submit. [12] Anyone who sells you a guaranteed issue date is selling smoke.
Exam day is one day if you sit at a REC. An approved course is several days to a couple of weeks of class, plus self-study. Add mailing and any NMC deficiency letters. Deficiency letters are common when sea service letters are vague. Write the letters like a logbook, not like a toast.
For a working deckhand with the days already in a notebook, the paper phase is months, not years. For a new operator, the years are on the water. Confirm the live NMC queue. No article can freeze it.
What sea time do you need before you can apply?
An original OUPV endorsement on inland waters requires 360 days of service on vessels. 46 CFR 11.467 is the rule. [2] Near-coastal OUPV also wants 360 days, but those days have to be on ocean or near-coastal waters. Arizona reservoir time does not become near-coastal time.
You also need recency. Original officer applicants generally must show 90 days of service in the last three years under 46 CFR 11.201. [9] Old sea time from the 1990s with nothing since will not carry the file by itself.
Document it. Small-vessel sea service on form CG-719S, or letters from owners with official numbers, horsepower, dates, and the waters, beat a paragraph that says you grew up on the lake. NMC has seen every vague letter. They send them back. [15]
Keep a simple spreadsheet now even if you are a year from applying. Date, vessel, official number or state registration, waters, days. Future you will not remember Labor Day.
Inland is the endorsement that matches Lake Powell and the lower Colorado. If you later want to run six-packs out of San Diego, you will need the near-coastal path and the sea time to match. Do not pay for a near-coastal course you cannot support with days.
Does Arizona issue its own captain license?
No. Arizona has no six-pack captain license and no state merchant mariner credential. Game and Fish does not evaluate sea service. ADOT does not print captain tickets. The card you carry is a Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential with an OUPV endorsement.
What Arizona does issue is boating safety education credentials for many motorized-watercraft operators born on or after January 1, 1984. That is the AZGFD education program, tied to state law. [6] It is a safety card for operating on state waters. It is not authority to carry six paying passengers.
People mix these up because both involve a card and a boat. One is a NASBLA-style education course you can finish online. The other is a federal officer endorsement with sea service, a physical, and a security card. If someone at the ramp tells you the state course covers charters, ignore them.
You may still need launch permits, vessel registration, and, on some federal recreation areas, a commercial use authorization from the park. Those are operating permissions for a place. They assume you already hold the federal license when the activity is passenger-for-hire.
Compare that to six-pack captain cost in Florida, where the same federal OUPV sits under a much thicker charter culture. The Coast Guard fee line does not change. The local operating paper does.
What extra Arizona boating rules apply on the lakes?
Born on or after January 1, 1984? Arizona requires an approved boating safety education course to operate a motorized watercraft on the waters of this state. That is the AZGFD rule set, not a marina suggestion. [6] Holders of certain other credentials sometimes ask Game and Fish about equivalency. Confirm with them. Do not assume an MMC automatically punches that ticket unless they say it does.
PFDs, fire extinguishers, night lights, and waste rules still apply. AZGFD publishes the current Arizona Boating Laws and Rules material. Read the year you are operating, not the copy in the glove box from 2019.
Lake Mead and Glen Canyon are National Park Service areas. Commercial operators often need a park commercial use authorization or a concession relationship on top of the USCG license. I will not quote a CUA fee I cannot pin to a live park document. Call the park business office. Lake Havasu and other state or Reclamation sites have their own commercial rules. Same advice. Confirm.
Tribal waters and some irrigation reservoirs carry extra limits. If the plan is to run only the reservation side, stop and get written permission first.
None of this replaces 46 U.S.C. § 8903. [1] State education is the floor for many operators. The MMC is the floor for carrying passengers for hire on jurisdictional waters.
Do you need a TWIC and a Coast Guard physical?
Yes on both for a normal original OUPV application.
46 CFR 10.203 requires MMC applicants to hold a TWIC. [11] There are narrow exceptions in the regulations. Do not plan your Arizona six-pack on an exception you read on a forum. Enroll, get the card, photocopy it, and move on.
The medical certificate process uses CG-719K. [8] NMC medical reviews some files. Vision, color vision, chronic conditions, and meds can slow you down. Be honest on the form. A surprise at medical review wastes more time than a hard conversation with your doctor.
Drug testing sits in 46 CFR Part 16. [10] Original applicants submit a test result that meets those rules. Once you are working under the license for a marine employer, you can land in a random-testing program. Solo owner-operators still need to understand when they count as a marine employer. That is a compliance question, not a vibe.
TWIC centers are not at every AZGFD office. Use TSA's locator. Physicals are easier in Phoenix and Tucson than in Page. If you live in Page and run Powell, plan the town trip and do TWIC and the clinic in one swing.
Should you take a USCG-approved course or sit the exam?
If you already know Rules of the Road, chart work, and the deck-general pile, sit the exam and keep the tuition. If you do not, take an approved course and get the exam waiver. That is the whole decision.
Arizona has no REC. Sitting the exam means travel. A course you can take closer to home, or online with an approved provider, often wins on total cost once you add a hotel near a coastal REC. Run that arithmetic on a notepad, not on hope.
Approved courses are listed through the Coast Guard's approved-course system. Completion certificates have expiration windows. Do not take the class two years before you have sea time. The certificate can go stale while you are still collecting days.
Skip radar observer, STCW basic training, or a 100-ton upgrade unless you have a job that needs them. For a six-pack on Lake Pleasant, that extra stack is a waste of money.
Inland vs near-coastal is the course choice that matters. Inland matches Arizona lakes. Near-coastal is for people with the ocean days. [2]
Comparing desert lakes to other waters? Peek at six-pack captain cost in Hawaii or six-pack captain cost in Idaho. Same federal fees. Different water.
What does first-year six-pack work cost after the card?
The MMC is the cheap part once you start taking guests.
Insurance is the line that surprises new operators. A six-passenger charter on a busy holiday weekend is a liability product. Do not launch without a marine policy that names the activity. Premiums vary with hull value, waters, and your record. Nobody has a clean public average for Arizona six-packs. Get quotes from two marine insurers before you advertise.
If you work for someone else, they may put you in a drug consortium and on their policy. If you are the owner, you are buying all of it. Vessel registration, safety-gear upkeep, and park commercial authorizations (where they apply) show up before the first paid trip. Confirm those place-based fees with the land manager. They are not NMC fees.
Fuel on Lake Powell in summer is not a licensing cost, but it will dwarf your $45 issuance fee. Dockage at Havasu in peak season too. Keep those off the what the license costs spreadsheet so you do not lie to yourself.
Do not promise customers a launch date tied to NMC. You do not control that clock. [12]
An MMC runs on a five-year renewal cycle under 46 CFR 10.227. [14] First-year cash is original-issue cash plus the boat. Renewal is a later problem.
For another state's first-year flavor, six-pack captain cost in Illinois runs the same Coast Guard backbone.
What paper can the Coast Guard actually confirm?
Keep copies of everything NMC can ask about later.
That means the MMC and medical certificate, the TWIC, the approved-course certificate or exam results, first aid and CPR cards, the CG-719K you submitted, sea service letters or CG-719S forms, the drug test report, and the fee receipts. Keep the NMC application number. NMC publishes checklists for original officer files. Use one. [15]
If a park or marina asks you to prove you are legal, the MMC photo page and the OUPV endorsement line are what they want to see. A state boating education card does not prove you may carry six for hire. [6]
Sea service letters should identify the vessel, official number or registration, gross tons or length, horsepower, the capacity in which you served, the waters, and the dates. Owners sign them. You do not write yourself a poem.
OUPVPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. If you want the checklist laid out in kit form, the $149 USCG OUPV + Bareboat Kit is at /start. Confirm every fee and processing quote with NMC, TSA, AZGFD, and the land manager for your lake. No article can freeze those numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for six-pack captain in Arizona?
Yes if you carry passengers for hire on waters under federal jurisdiction. The requirement is 46 U.S.C. § 8903, not an Arizona captain statute. Lake Mead, Mohave, Havasu, and Powell are the usual fact pattern. A private boat with friends is not. Confirm odd inland ponds with counsel if money changes hands.
How much does six-pack captain cost in Arizona?
Plan on $255 in Coast Guard user fees if you sit the exam ($100 evaluate, $110 examine, $45 issue). Add TWIC, a CG-719K physical, a Part 16 drug test, first aid and CPR, and usually a course. Arizona adds no state captain fee. All-in cash often lands in the high hundreds to around $1,500, driven by school and travel.
How long does six-pack captain take in Arizona?
Sea service is the clock. Inland OUPV needs 360 days on vessels, plus recency. After the days are real, assembling TWIC, medical, and the NMC file takes weeks if you stay organized. NMC review time changes. Read the live processing-times page when you submit. Nobody can honestly promise you a week count.
Does Arizona lake time count toward a near-coastal OUPV?
No. Near-coastal OUPV sea service has to be on ocean or near-coastal waters under 46 CFR 11.467. Days on Powell, Mead, Havasu, Pleasant, or Apache count toward inland OUPV. They do not convert into near-coastal days. If you later want San Diego six-packs, collect the right water time first.
Can I take the Coast Guard OUPV exam in Arizona?
Arizona has no Regional Exam Center. If you sit the government exam, you travel to a REC in another state. Many Arizona applicants take a USCG-approved course instead and use the completion certificate as an exam waiver. That often costs less than flights and a hotel once you add time off the water.
Do I still need the Arizona boating education card if I have an OUPV?
Maybe. AZGFD requires approved boating safety education for many motorized operators born on or after January 1, 1984. An MMC is a different credential. Some other cards can be treated as equivalent. Ask Game and Fish. Do not assume the Coast Guard card automatically closes the state education file.
How many passengers can a six-pack captain carry?
Six. That is the uninspected-passenger-vessel limit in federal law. A seventh paying guest is not a rounding error. It can push you into inspected-vessel rules you do not have paper for. Crew who are not passengers sit outside that count, but do not play games with who is really a guest.
How long is a six-pack MMC valid?
Merchant Mariner Credentials run on a five-year renewal cycle under 46 CFR 10.227. Medical certificates can expire on a shorter clock depending on your exam. TWIC has its own term. Put all three dates in your phone. A valid MMC with an expired medical is not a working six-pack.
Do I need a TWIC only to run Lake Powell?
For a normal original MMC, yes, you need a TWIC even if you never leave Glen Canyon. 46 CFR 10.203 ties the credential to the card. The lake does not create a desert exception. Enroll through TSA, keep a copy, and carry the card when NMC or an employer asks.
What if I carry seven passengers on an uninspected boat?
You have left the six-pack. Uninspected passenger vessel rules stop at six passengers. More guests generally means an inspected passenger vessel and a different Coast Guard path. Do not invent a workaround with "friends of the charter." If they paid, they are passengers.
Is there a cheaper path if I already have sea time?
Yes. Skip the expensive school if you can pass the REC exam and you already hold 360 qualifying days plus recency. You still pay USCG user fees, TWIC, the physical, the drug test, and first aid. That is the lean file. Vague sea-service letters will erase the savings when NMC sends a deficiency.
Does Arizona charge a state fee for a captain license?
No, because Arizona does not issue a captain license. You may still pay for the state boating education course, vessel registration, launch permits, and any park commercial authorization. Those are separate from the Merchant Mariner Credential. Confirm each one with the agency that actually collects it.
Will insurance accept the state boating card instead of an OUPV?
Do not count on it for passenger-for-hire work. Insurers on the Colorado River chain typically want the MMC with an OUPV endorsement. The Arizona education card shows you passed a safety course. It does not show NMC found you qualified to carry six for hire. Get the quotes in writing before you advertise trips.
How much does an OUPV course usually cost?
There is no official Arizona tuition. Approved schools set their own prices. Many classroom or blended OUPV courses land from the mid hundreds to about $1,000. I would not pay multi-thousand-dollar bootcamp rates for the same exam waiver. Verify the school is on the Coast Guard approved-course list before you enroll.
Sources
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 46 U.S.C. § 8903: An uninspected passenger vessel must be operated by an individual licensed by the Secretary for that vessel type and geographic area.
- eCFR, 46 CFR 11.467 OUPV endorsement: OUPV endorsements are limited to vessels under 100 GRT, and original inland qualification requires 360 days of service on vessels.
- eCFR, 46 CFR 10.219 user fees: Original officer endorsement user fees are $100 evaluation, $110 examination, and $45 issuance; renewal evaluation is $50.
- U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center, Fees: NMC publishes current merchant mariner credential user-fee payment instructions that applicants must follow.
- Transportation Security Administration, TWIC program page: TSA administers TWIC enrollment and posts the current enrollment fee applicants must confirm when scheduling.
- Arizona Game and Fish Department, Boating education: Arizona requires approved boating safety education for motorized-watercraft operators born on or after January 1, 1984.
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 46 U.S.C. § 2101: Federal definitions in 46 U.S.C. § 2101 set the uninspected passenger vessel class used for the six-passenger six-pack limit.
- U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center, Medical certificates: Original officer applicants use form CG-719K and NMC medical-certificate process for the merchant mariner physical.
- eCFR, 46 CFR 11.201 officer general requirements: Original officer applicants must meet recency (generally 90 days in 3 years) and present valid first aid and CPR certificates.
- eCFR, 46 CFR 16.220 applicant chemical testing: MMC applicants must submit a chemical test for dangerous drugs that meets Coast Guard Part 16 rules.
- eCFR, 46 CFR 10.203 TWIC requirement: MMC applicants must hold a Transportation Worker Identification Credential except where a stated regulatory exception applies.
- U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center, Processing times: NMC posts current credential processing times, which vary and must be confirmed at submission rather than treated as fixed.
- eCFR, 33 CFR 2.36 navigable waters of the United States: Whether federal vessel-operator licensing applies depends in part on whether the water is among the navigable waters of the United States.
- eCFR, 46 CFR 10.227 renewal of merchant mariner credentials: Merchant Mariner Credentials are renewed on a five-year cycle under 46 CFR 10.227.
- U.S. Coast Guard National Maritime Center, Application checklists: NMC publishes original officer endorsement checklists listing the forms and evidence a complete OUPV file should contain.