Y4 pre-study material?

Hi all!

I want to prepare properly before taking the Y4 modules. Can anyone recommend suitable literature?

I have the syllabuses from MGN 156 (and the updated ones from the MCA
website and also the obsolete MIN 208) and I have made printouts of relevant pages of MARPOL, STCW and some M-Notices.

But where can I found the "non-regulations" stuff?

I have H.D. McGeorge's "Marine Auxiliary Machinery" which I personally think is very unstructured and actually not usable at all. Any other recommendations?

Pounder's "Marine Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines" seems to be an excellent book. Is it worth buying or is it too much tankers etc?

For electricity I have "The Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible" by John C. Payne and "Boatowner's Illustrated Handbook of Wiring" by Charlie Wing but they are more for smaller boats. I also have "Stamfords Fault Finding Manual" which is very good but of course a bit specialised. Reed's Engineering Series "Basic/Advanced Electrotechnology for Engineers" seems to be a bit too technical. What I lack is something that applies to yacht's electrical systems.

Any hints are greatly appreciated!

Hi K1W1,

thanks for your reply!

Well, I guess your are right, but the problem for me is that I am currently sole engineer on a 34m MY from the early eighties and our systems are not really up to date! (I'm actually surprised that we pass the surveys...)

The other yachts I've worked on have been smaller sailing yachts so their
systems weren't probably exactly what an MCA examiner would expect either.

Here are some examples of what I (think I) need:

In another thread on this forum I read a question about "reverse power trip".
I have only worked on yachts which use a single generator for all loads. They had all have 2 or 3 generators but not any means of running them in parallel.
Hence I have no practical experience of "reverse power trip", paralleling or synchroscope (which I have read about but don't really understand). I have no experience with load banks, frequency converters etc which seem to be used in many (bigger/newer) yachts.

When it comes to engine supervision I use gauges on the bridge and in the engine room. I have no experience of modern "computerised" diesel engines, common rail etc and would like to know more.

We have "small boat systems" rather than "ship systems" and I guess that the exams will be focused on larger yachts.

To (try to) clarify:
Yes, I completely agree with everyone that says that I should learn for life rather than for an exam and that there are thousands of books out there with really good information and that I could learn a lot of useful stuff. But being realistic (and a bit cynical) I won't really have the time to study too much that actually won't be in the syllabus for the Y4.

Perhaps anyone out there just took their Y4 and have some advice?

Best regards!

PS The ideal way to prepare for the Y4 would of course to get a position
as 2nd on a bigger yacht but that position seems to require a Y4 so it's
sort of a catch 22...

Hi again!

Thanks for the link. I've just skimmed the site and there seems to be quite a few short simple articles there (about almost anything so I guess there is a risk of getting stuck on that site...). As you say perhaps mostly in laymans terms but nevertheless valuable.

Well, that's were your and others knowledge and helpful advice come in!
I have no clue on what to expect on the Y4 module exams and have seen
a recommendation of 6 weeks pre-study on each module before taking the
course so I want to spend my time wisely (and start early since I won't have
the service time for the Y4 until Feb 2011).

Thanks again for your help!

Thank you very much Oceaneer!

I have been considering Warsash due to their reputation and some
first-hand reviews I have got but I will most likely take my courses
at Bluewater in Antibes since I am based in San Remo.

If I was to take one of the 3 modules in Warsash; which one would
you recommend? (If it's at all possible to answer that question...)

I have done Adv Fire Fighting and Adv Sea Survival at Bluewater, Antibes and wasn't overly impressed by the standards of their facilities or their study notes.
They are a little bit disorganised in my view even though I must say that our instructors were both very knowledgeable and inspiring.

I will PM you my email address. Thanks again for your help!

Thanks again oceaneer,

I will try to find out (also depends a little bit on the dates of course).

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Just an update:

I bought the course material from Bluewater in Antibes for all 3 Y4 courses.
100 Euros each and I must say that I was impressed by the quality of the
notes.

They are structured exactly after the syllabuses given in MIN 208 (now
obsolete but probably the best reference anyway) and are very well written.

The notes are not written by Bluewater but licensed from something called
Cobalt CBT Systems and seem to be used by other training providers as well.

Final(?) update!

Another update...

I just got a PM from another member asking me if I found any more material so here is what I wrote to him/her:

I ended up doing the courses at Bluewater in Antibes. Mostly due to the fact that I'm based nearby. The course notes from Bluewater is reasonably good, they follow the structure in the (outdated...) MIN 208 and a lot of of the information is relevant. Unfortunately there is also a lot of redundant and irrelevant material in the notes which I didn't see when I initially got them.
They also refer to outdated M-Notices in some places.

During my pre-studies before attending the first course it turned out that I put a lot of effort into learning material that had nothing to do with the exam. And, let's be honest, in this case it is the exam that is important rather than actually learning for life...

I still think 100 Euros per module is a fair price though.

The instructor at Bluewater, Tim Moss, is very good and I think that helped a lot. Every day we got old exam questions as homework and every morning we went through them in class. He was very focused on having us to pass the exams.

So, to sum it up, in the end I actually didn't get any other material than the course notes and despite some redundancy and irrelevance I think they are good enough to have you pass the exams!

Regarding old exam papers...

Unfortunately Bluewater (where I took my courses) are under strict
surveillance by the MCA and are not allowed to give out any copies of
the past exams. We had to return the copies we used during the courses,

Personally I think everyone would gain if we got all the old questions
way before the course. The worst thing that could happen would be that
more people would know the answers to more questions. Which would
mean that on top of knowing the answers to the questions in the
exam I happen to get, I also know the answers to 50 or so other questions
and that can't be all bad, can it?

The MCA could actually put all questions in their exam question banks
on their web site so that anyone could download them!

Very well put! I definitively agree, but...

Unfortunately with the Y4 there are two major problems as I see it
(with my limited experience but I did pass all three Y4 exams this winter):

1. A lot of the MCA exam questions have no real relevance to the actual,
real-life problems we face as engineers on a Y4-level. They are more
merchant and "big ship" type questions. As a Y4 I will not work on a
big tanker or have a couple of engineers working for me. Most likely I
will be the sole engineer on a <200GT or I'll be a second on a <500GT
yacht with my Y4 ticket.

2. The scope of the exams (at least Y4 Ops and Y4 Aux) is really too big
for self-studies. Since the Y4 5-day modules are the only teaching we
get it is very hard to know what to study before you actually take your
modules, and then it is way too late...

I suggested to Bluewater that they should start giving introductory courses
to give Y4 students a sort of a jump-start with their self-studies but they
didn't think anyone would pay for it. Which, I'm sad to say, probably is true.

The optimum education would be the merchant style with class-room theory
combined with actual apprenticeship aboard sea-going vessels but for career-
changers like me that is no option. I haven't heard of any yacht having any
apprentices aboard either...

Unfortunately it seems like you need a Y3 (three!) licence in order to get a
job as 2/E on a yacht large enough to have the systems that the MCA
expects you to know by heart in your Y4 exams.

Catch 22 according to me (or actually slightly worse...)!

Best regards!