Boat Detailing at Port Adelaide Marinas

Working on the Port River

The Port River carries more berthed vessels than any other stretch of water in South Australia. Between the inner harbour at Port Adelaide and the mouth at Outer Harbor there are marinas on both banks, a working port, and the North Haven boat harbour where Marina Adelaide, 35 South Marina and the Cruising Yacht Club of South Australia sit side by side. We work across all of them with the same mobile unit.

Pen-side work is the norm. Everything travels down the pontoon and the vessel stays where it is. The river is a dolphin sanctuary, so we use marine-safe products and take care with what goes into the water. Our contractor documentation is provided to marina management on request.

The marinas

Edgewater Marina on Garden Island sits close to historic Port Adelaide within the sanctuary. It offers hardstand space and two working slipways for vessels up to 20 tonnes, which makes it our usual choice on the river when a boat is already out of the water for antifouling and the owner wants it detailed in the same lift. Inlet Marina and MC Marina are pen-side work, as is the Port River Sailing Club fleet.

At the seaward end, Marina Adelaide accommodates up to 175 berths with storage and service facilities, a ship lift and a public boat ramp, and 35 South Marina offers deep-water berths for monohulls and multihulls up to 20 metres with power and water at every berth. Both are a short run from Edgewater by water and a few minutes by road.

Conditions in the Port River

The river is calmer than the gulf, and vessels berthed upstream see less spray than those at North Haven or Outer Harbor. What they see instead is fallout. The working port and the industrial shoreline put fine dark grit onto decks and topsides, and in a still basin it settles rather than blows away. On white surfaces it stains if it is left.

That makes a regular wash routine important here. A scheduled Maintenance Wash keeps the grit from building up, and an Exterior Detail deals with the light staining and water spots that a wash alone will not shift.