Shipfitter Welder

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lays out and fabricates metal structural parts, such as plates, bulkheads, and frames, and braces them in position within the hull of a ship for riveting or welding.
• Lays out the position of parts on metal, working from blueprints or templates and using scribe and hand tools.
• Limits and marks reference lines, such as center, buttock, and frame lines.
• Positions parts in the hull of a ship, assisted by a RIGGER (ship-boat manufacturing).
• Aligns parts in relation to each other, using jacks, turnbuckles, clips, wedges, and mauls.
• Marks the location of holes to be drilled and installs temporary fasteners to hold parts in place for welding or riveting.
• Installs packing, gaskets, liners, and structural accessories and members, such as doors, hatches, brackets, and clips.
• May prepare molds and templates for fabrication of nonstandard parts.
• May tack weld clips and brackets in place prior to permanent welding.
• May roll, bend, flange, cut, and shape plates, beams, and other heavy metal parts, using shop machinery such as plate rolls, presses, bending brakes, and joggle machines.
• Ability to interpret welding blueprints and perform layout for welding and fitting operations.
• Safely and efficiently use various hand and power tools.
• Safely and efficiently use various welders and cutting tools.
• Ability to weld with both wire feed and stick in any and all positions.
• Be able to lay out the position of parts on metal templates using scribes and hand tools.
• Use large machinery such as a metal shear, metal brake, and band saw.
• Use welding equipment.

Required Education & Experience

• A High School Diploma, one year certificate from college or technical school; or equivalent combination of education and/or industrial marine welding experience.

Working Conditions

• Open-air conditions such as noisy, hot, cold, etc.
• Must wear hearing, eye, head protection and proper PPE.
• Some climbing (100 feet) and lifting (50 lbs.) involved.
• Working with hot and sometimes hazardous materials.
• Aboard ships, both on and offshore as well as confined spaces.
• Some travel required.

Necessary Equipment Operation

• Blow torches — Motorized cutting torches; Pattern cutting torches; Welding torches
• Gas welding or brazing or cutting apparatus — Brazing equipment; Heliarc welder equipment; Oxyacetylene welding equipment; Portable gas operated arc welders
• Man lift or personnel lift — Hydraulic truck lifts; Swing stages
• Taps or dies — Dies; Taps
• Welding masks — Hand shields; Welding shields
• Workshop presses — Brakes; Drill presses; Portable magnetic drill presses; Punch presses

Special Skills

• Ability to work under deadlines and schedule pressures.
• Ability to read and interpret blueprints.
• Mechanical abilities and aptitude.
• Must be able to climb up and down ladders and gangways, work aloft while wearing fall prevention equipment.
• Ability to lift up to 70 pounds and carry the same for short distances and up and down stairs and steep inclines.
• The work requires long periods of sitting in awkward positions, standing on a variety of surfaces and at differing angles, bending over, crouching, and climbing up and over obstructions such as scaffolding, ladders, and internal barge and boat structural members.