Glossary Term
Hold Point
A hold point is a mandatory checkpoint in a project or inspection sequence where work must stop until the required inspection, verification, or approval has taken place. In yacht refit, repair, coating, fabrication, and equipment-installation work, the term is used inside inspection and test plans, quality-control plans, and approval maps. It belongs to project control more than to marine law, but it has direct technical consequences.
The reason hold points are used is simple: some stages cannot be checked properly once the next stage covers them up or makes them irreversible. Surface preparation before coating, foundation alignment before grouting, structural fit-up before welding close-out, pressure tests before insulation, and class attendance before release are typical examples. Source-inspection guidance describes the inspection and test plan as the checklist that guides quality-assurance activity, and hold points are the moments when progression is formally stopped until that activity is completed.
On a superyacht project, clear hold points protect both schedule and evidence. They help the yard know when it must wait, help the owner’s team know when it must attend, and help class or survey personnel catch issues before finished surfaces, closed ceilings, or completed machinery assemblies hide them. The term sounds administrative, but on refit work it is one of the main tools that keeps technical quality visible while the job is still recoverable.