Engineer Profile: Mike Fanshier, Riverview Tug Service

After spending more than 30 years as a welder, Mike Fanshier was looking for a change. He found it as part of a new career at Riverview Tug Service about a year ago.

Fanshier, 53, of East Peoria, Ill., applied for a deckhand position with the company.

“I figured I’d ride the boats and just watch the river roll by,” he said.

He found out that an engineer had recently retired, though, and that he was better suited for some of those duties. That’s how he became a “deckineer,” working on a boat and building tow but also taking care of oil changes, other maintenance and welding.

Fanshier has spent most of his time over the past year on the mv. Western Enterprise, which was recently sold, but he lately started work on the John F. Walker, getting it ready for its Certificate of Inspection. As needed, he will work on different boats in Riverview’s fleet. While he is normally based in the company’s Gulf division, working out of Amelia, La., the recent work has him spending more time on the Upper Mississippi and nearer to home.

“It’s like I came full circle,” Fanshier says of his career.

Growing up in Versailles, Ill., Fanshier’s father had a fish market.

“I was always in the boat with him,” he said.

After high school, Fanshier wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He wasn’t interested in college, and he didn’t like the idea of being indoors all day at a local factory. He decided, instead, to join the Navy, where he became a hull maintenance technician and was stationed in San Diego. He worked in an engineroom and learned how to weld as part of the work.

After four years in the Navy, Fanshier was working at a food distribution warehouse.

“I decided to change my life, and I always heard underwater welders make big money, so I went to school for that,” he said.

He spent time as a commercial diver for River Diving and Salvage, mainly working in off-shore oil-field diving, but that came with a degree of risk, so when he and his wife, Trisha, decided to start a family, he went back to welding, mostly working for Pro Fab in Norton, Ill.

Now that their daughters, Gwendolyn, 17, and Ellie, 13, are a little older, Fanshier was excited to try work on the river.

“I’m loving it,” he said. “It’s challenging, and it’s not the same routine every day. It’s always a different view every day. You can’t beat the scenery, and the camaraderie with the crew, it’s unique.”

Fanshier usually works hitches of two to four months, then comes home for about two weeks.

“I like to stay busy,” he said.

When he is home, he stays busy, too. Fanshier enjoys woodworking, and he made his first guitar body in high school. Now he makes custom guitars for family and friends and is making a custom bass for a customer. He still enjoys playing rock ‘n’ roll when the opportunity arises, too.

When he’s at work, he enjoys growing and adding to his skills, and now he has a new goal. Instead of thinking about retirement in a few years, he said, “I would like to become a pilot.”