Yacht and superyacht inspection checklist: REG Yacht Code, MI-103, Malta CYC and USCG

A yacht’s inspection checklist depends on four things: its flag administration, its load line length and gross tonnage, whether it operates privately or for commercial charter (including dual-mode YET operations), and the maximum number of passengers carried.

Every yacht survey starts at the captain’s desk. Before walking the decks or tender garage, the attending Flag surveyor, Recognised Organisation (RO) auditor or Port State Control officer checks that the vessel’s trading mode matches its current certificates and crew complement.

• Certificate of Compliance & charter mode: Verify that the Certificate of Compliance (REG Yacht Code, MGN 280 / Workboat Code Edition 3, Malta CYC 2025 or RMI MI-103 Compliance Verification) is in force, with annual endorsements signed within the window. For Marshall Islands YET yachts (≤84 charter days per calendar year) or Private Yachts Limited Charter (PYLC), confirm the active charter log and Temporary Certificate of Registry match the current voyage.
• Minimum Safe Manning & STCW / yacht CoCs: Check that the Master, deck officers, chief engineer and watchkeepers hold valid flag endorsements (CRA or full endorsement) matching the Minimum Safe Manning Document for commercial operation, plus Polar Code or Passenger Ship training endorsements where required.
• MLC 2006 Seafarers’ Employment Agreements & rest hours: Port State control officers check, on a commercial yacht as on any ship in trade, signed Seafarers’ Employment Agreements (SEAs), compliant hours-of-rest records (10 hours in any 24-hour period and 77 hours in any 7-day period), valid medical certificates and monthly wage accounts.
• Classification status & statutory certificates: For yachts ≥500 GT (and coded yachts classed with Lloyd’s Register, DNV, ABS, BV, RINA or another IACS society), confirm the Certificate of Class has no overdue Conditions of Class or memoranda, and check Load Line, IOPP, IAPP, ISPP, Safety Radio, ISM SMC (where applicable) and ISPS ISSC validity.

Fires involving lithium-ion batteries in electric tenders, personal watercraft, e-foils and underwater scooters are the single fastest-growing safety focus across yacht flags and insurers. Both the UK MCA (MGN 681(M) Amendment 1) and the Marshall Islands (Yacht Technical Circular 14 and MI-103) set specific expectations for onboard inspections:

• Dedicated charging and storage zones: Lithium-ion batteries for e-foils, Seabobs and electric tenders must be charged and stowed in designated, ventilated spaces fitted with smoke/heat detection and boundary cooling or fixed fire suppression — never in guest cabins, crew messrooms or escape corridors.
• Battery Management Systems (BMS) and watchkeeping: Chargers must be OEM-approved with automatic over-temperature and over-charge cut-offs. High-capacity charging should be monitored, with written shipboard procedures for isolating, cooling and jettisoning or submerging a battery showing signs of thermal runaway.
• Petrol (gasoline) storage in tender garages: Where tenders or jet-skis use petrol, verify that fuel is stored only in approved portable containers or fixed tanks inside a gas-tight, mechanically ventilated locker with explosion-proof electrical fittings, hydrocarbon gas detection and fixed fire-extinguishing coverage.
• Daughter craft and tender safety equipment: Under RMI MN 2-011-58 and the REG Yacht Code, every tender must carry its required lifejackets, VHF communication, kill-cord lanyard, navigation lights, pyrotechnics and clear maximum-person markings.

Large motor and sailing yachts feature shell doors, fold-down beach clubs, side-boarding platforms and lazarette hatches near the waterline. Surveyors test both the physical interlocks and the bridge indication panel.

• Shell doors, beach-club platforms and watertight boundaries: Verify that hull doors, transom garages and sliding watertight doors close weathertight/watertight, gaskets are unperished, local and bridge open/closed indicators work, and logbook entries confirm all hull openings are secured before putting to sea.
• Helideck landing areas (where fitted): Check compliance with REG Yacht Code / CAP 437 / MI-103 helideck requirements: obstacle-free sector markings, perimeter safety nets, deck friction testing, foam fire-fighting monitors, Helicopter Landing Officer (HLO) and fire-team training certificates, and aviation fuel (Jet A-1) daily water-drain sampling records where refuelling is fitted.
• Life-saving appliances and rescue boat launch: Check lifeboats, rescue boats and davit-launched or throw-over liferafts, hydrostatic release units (HRUs), immersion suits, EPIRBs, SARTs, line-throwing appliances and two-way GMDSS VHF radios. Ensure weekly and monthly inspections are logged in accordance with SOLAS III/20 and MSC.1/Circ.1578/Rev.1.
• Navigation, GMDSS and GNSS-denied contingency: Confirm ECDISENC permits and paper backup arrangements, compass deviation cards, radar/AIS/VDR operation, LRIT Conformance Test Report validity, and bridge procedures for GNSS jamming or spoofing under UK MCA MGN 719.
• USCG Subchapter T & K small passenger yachts (<100 GT): For US-flag charter yachts operating under a Coast Guard COI, verify the posted Stability Letter (46 CFR 176.306 / 115.306), high-water bilge alarms and bilge pumps, engine-room fixed fire extinguishing and remote fuel shut-offs (46 CFR Part 181), pre-departure passenger safety briefings and logged man-overboard and fire drills (46 CFR Part 185).

SeaReady includes partial source-linked preparation checklists for UK-flag yachts (REG Yacht Code for yachts within its scope, and the Sport or Pleasure Vessel Code introduced from 12 December 2025 for commercial sport/pleasure vessels under 24 m, or their confirmed existing-vessel transition), Republic of the Marshall Islands (MI-103), Transport Malta (Commercial Yacht Code 2025 Rev. 1) and USCG Domestic (46 CFR Subchapters T & K), alongside Port State Control and IACS Classification Society surveys. Confirm the applicable code and transition with the certifying authority; a Workboat Code certificate follows a separate route. Other Red Ensign administrations need separately confirmed flag requirements.

• In Settings → Vessel & crew, choose Yacht / Superyacht for a yacht, enter your actual registry flag (do not substitute GB for another Red Ensign flag) and select your classification society.
• In My inspections → Add inspection, add a Flag-state inspection, Class survey, PSC visit or USCG inspection.
• Confirm the ship and inspection scope questions at the top of the visit (for example, whether a helideck, lithium-ion water toys or daughter tenders are carried) so SeaReady filters the applicable checks.
• Attach dated photos, notes and certificates to each item, track any defects in the Findings tracker, and print a dated readiness report for the owner’s representative, management company or attending surveyor.

Coverage is partial and grounded in published flag and statutory sources; private Recognised Organisation worksheets and paywalled ISO small-craft construction standards remain outside the app and are shown as explicit boundary holds.