The OUPV (six-pack) license explained

The OUPV is where almost everyone starts. If you want to run charter fishing trips, take dive groups out, teach sailing, or carry paying passengers on a boat you own, this is usually the license you are actually looking for. The name is a mouthful, so people call it the “six-pack” after the one number that defines it: six passengers.

The full name is the Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels credential, an officer endorsement on a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) issued by the National Maritime Center (NMC). This site is independent and is not the Coast Guard, the NMC, or a course provider.

What does an OUPV license let you do?

An OUPV lets you operate an uninspected passenger vessel carrying up to six paying passengers. The word “uninspected” is doing the real work here. Small vessels that carry six or fewer passengers are not subject to the Coast Guard’s vessel-inspection regime, which is a completely separate and much heavier process for the boat itself. So the OUPV pairs a person who is credentialed with a vessel that is not inspected, and the six-passenger cap is the line that keeps the vessel uninspected.

A few practical boundaries:

• Up to six paying passengers, not counting the crew.
• Uninspected vessels only, which in practice means recreational-style vessels under 100 gross register tons.
• The vessel can be larger than you would guess. The six-pack cap is about passenger count, not a tiny boat, but once you want to carry more than six paying passengers you need a Master license on an inspected vessel instead.

If your plan involves more than six paying passengers, or an inspected vessel, the OUPV is not enough and you are looking at the Master route. The OUPV vs Master guide lays that fork out in full.

Inland versus Near Coastal: which OUPV do you get?

The OUPV comes in two flavors, and which one you earn is decided by where your documented sea time was earned, not by which one you would prefer.

• OUPV Near Coastal covers waters out to 100 nautical miles offshore. You qualify for it when enough of your sea-service days were earned on near-coastal or ocean waters.
• OUPV Inland covers inland waters, bays, sounds, and the routes the Coast Guard designates as inland, plus the Great Lakes when that time is documented. Someone whose days were all earned on a lake or a bay qualifies for Inland, no matter how many days they have.

Near Coastal is the broader route because it also lets you work inland, whereas Inland does not extend offshore. The sea-time calculator splits your entered days by water type so you can see at a glance which route your log actually supports.

Who is the OUPV a good fit for?

The OUPV fits the person whose business or side income is built around small groups on a boat they can captain themselves:

• Charter fishing guides running six-or-fewer-angler trips.
• Dive charter and eco-tour operators with small groups.
• Sailing and boating instructors taking students out for pay.
• Owners who want to run occasional paid trips on their own vessel without stepping up to an inspected-vessel operation.

It is also the natural first credential even if you eventually want a Master license, because the sea time and the exam overlap heavily.

What does it take to earn one?

The OUPV requires the same core package as the higher tiers: 360 days of documented sea time (90 of them recent), a TWIC, a CG-719K medical certificate, a passed exam or Coast Guard-approved course, a drug test, and the CG-719B application package to the NMC. The exam is lighter than the Master exam, with no tonnage or advanced chart-plotting module, but the Rules of the Road section still demands a high pass score. The full path is in how to get a captain’s license, and the cost guide breaks down the money.

OUPV at a glance

• Passengers: up to six paying passengers.
• Vessel: uninspected, effectively under 100 gross register tons.
• Routes: Inland or Near Coastal, decided by where your sea time was earned.
• Sea time: 360 documented days, 90 recent.
• Step up when: you need to carry more than six passengers or run an inspected vessel, at which point you want a Master license.

Sources: 46 CFR Part 11 (officer endorsement and route definitions) via ecfr.gov and the public National Maritime Center OUPV checklists (dco.uscg.mil/nmc), verified 2026-07-22. Route eligibility is determined by documented water type; the National Maritime Center makes the final determination on every application. This guide describes the public rule and is not legal advice.