OUPV (Six-Pack) and Master credential paths for charter boats, tour boats, and passenger-for-hire operators in Wyoming.
It isn't a state license — it's the same federal USCG Merchant Mariner Credential with an OUPV or Master endorsement, used nationwide.
Wyoming guide services on Yellowstone Lake and Jackson Lake pursue OUPV Inland. National-park concession charters often require it.
The nearest USCG Regional Examination Center is St. Louis, MO / Portland, OR. Compare centers and appointment rules in the USCG REC locations guide.
Major Wyoming charter hubs
Wyoming's three named waters drain to three different oceans, which is a good reminder that a watershed argument settles less than it seems to. Yellowstone Lake feeds the Yellowstone and so the Missouri; Jackson Lake feeds the Snake and so the Columbia; Flaming Gorge, shared with Utah, feeds the Green and so the Colorado. Only the first is even arguably in the Mississippi system, and this page does not class a headwater lake as a Western River under 33 CFR 83.03(n) on that basis — the distance from the definition's subject matter is the point, and the classification is an OCMI determination. No Part 80 line exists in Wyoming, so what is navigable water of the United States here is inland water under 83.03(q) with the plain Inland Rules and nothing else. Wyoming files route to REC St. Louis or REC Portland depending on where the qualifying service was actually earned.
33 CFR Part 80 draws no demarcation line in Wyoming. 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.
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.
Document 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 Wyoming 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 / Portland, OR.
The same — a federal Merchant Mariner Credential endorsement, valid in every state. Wyoming licenses the business, the guide and local fishing separately.
The minimum age is federal, not set by Wyoming: 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 / Portland, OR once the NMC approves the application, or through an approved course provider that administers the exam itself.
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