OUPV (Six-Pack) and Master credential paths for charter boats, tour boats, and passenger-for-hire operators in Missouri.
It isn't a state license — it's the same federal USCG Merchant Mariner Credential with an OUPV or Master endorsement, used nationwide.
REC St. Louis is the central inland REC. Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake guides pursue OUPV Inland.
The nearest USCG Regional Examination Center is St. Louis, MO. Compare centers and appointment rules in the USCG REC locations guide.
Major Missouri charter hubs
Missouri sits at the junction of the two largest Western Rivers, and both are squarely inside the 33 CFR 83.03(n) definition, so the river provisions rather than the plain Inland Rules are the working rulebook for St. Louis and Kansas City service. The four to know are 83.09(a)(ii) and 83.14(d), where the downbound vessel with a following current holds the right of way and proposes the manner of passage; 83.15(b), where a vessel crossing the river keeps out of the way of one ascending or descending it; and 83.24(j)'s towing-light exception. No Part 80 line exists in the state. Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock are impoundments on the Osage and White, and their status is an OCMI determination — worth resolving before a service record leans on them, since REC St. Louis is the office that will read it.
33 CFR Part 80 draws no demarcation line in Missouri. Its 106 sections cover the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Pacific islands and Alaska; a state with no coast has no section, which is itself the answer.
Western Rivers (the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers) are defined at 33 CFR 83.03(n) and carry Inland Rules provisions the rest of inland water does not: 83.09(a)(ii), 83.14(d), 83.15(b) and the towing-light exception at 83.24(j).
This decides which rulebook you steer by, not where your credential may operate: the route limit is the 46 CFR Part 7 Boundary Line, and the two lines are not drawn in the same place. How the two lines differ · International Rules · Inland Rules
33 CFR Part 80 and the Part 83 definitions above read from eCFR on 12 Aug 2026. Any specific water is a determination for the cognizant Coast Guard Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection.
Not sure the trip needs a credential at all? The captain's-license trigger guide.
Inspected small-passenger-vessel authority — that is a Master.
Master requirementsDocument your sea service
Pass the medical & drug test
CG-719K and CG-719P — medical certificate guide.
Get a TWIC + CPR / First Aid
Submit your application to the NMC
Pass the exam at REC St. Louis, MO
Or an approved course provider — what it covers and the score you need.
There is no Missouri captain's license to get — you earn a federal USCG credential, in the five steps set out above, and sit the exam at REC St. Louis, MO.
The same — a federal Merchant Mariner Credential endorsement, valid in every state. Missouri licenses the business, the guide and local fishing separately.
The minimum age is federal, not set by Missouri: 18 for OUPV, 19 for most Master endorsements, 21 for higher-tonnage and ocean routes (46 CFR 11.201(e)).
At REC St. Louis, MO once the NMC approves the application, or through an approved course provider that administers the exam itself.
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