Marina service
Boatshed Number One
About
Boatshed Number One at a glance
Boatshed at 1 Little Street, Forster, offering short and long-term marina berths with power and water plus swing moorings close to the mouth of Wallis Lake, with pump-out facilities, on-call mechanics and thermal-camera security. Also hires houseboats, kayaks and SUPs.
Service area: Mid North Coast
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Boatshed Number One (Forster Houseboat Hire)
- Region
- Mid North Coast
- Water body
- Wallis Lake
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing, swing moorings
Facilities and services
- pump-out
- 24/7 security
- power & water
- repairs & maintenance
- houseboat hire (3 vessels, sleeps 2-10)
- kayak/SUP/canoe/runabout hire
- thermal-camera security
- on-call mechanics
- swing moorings
- pump-out for mooring customers
About Boatshed Number One
At the lake end of Little Street, where Forster's waterfront strip is a working row of boatsheds rather than a promenade, Boatshed Number One holds the position closest to the mouth of Wallis Lake. The shed operates under the Forster Houseboat Hire and Forster Luxury Houseboats banner, and its personality is equal parts boatyard, hire base and small marina. New owners took over in 2018 and set about renovating a fleet of three houseboats that sleep between two and ten guests, hiring them out to holidaymakers who need neither a boat licence nor experience, alongside kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, canoes and runabouts for day hire. That hire trade funds and flavours the berthing side: the shed offers short and long-term marina berths and swing moorings to locals and travellers who want to keep a boat within a minute's run of the lake mouth. The clientele is a mix of grey nomads living aboard for a season, fishing families from Sydney three hours down the highway, and oyster fans provisioning straight off the lake leases. Dolphins hunt the Breckenridge Channel in front of the shed, and houseboat guests regularly report feeding fish off the back deck while sea turtles cruise past. It is a family-scale operation in the mould of the old boatsheds that lined every Mid North Coast estuary, one of the last handful still taking boats in Little Street alongside neighbours Blue Peter Boatshed and Aussie Boatshed, whose bait freezers and hire fleets keep the street smelling of prawns and two-stroke.
Marina facilities
Berthing at Boatshed Number One covers both short and long-term stays, with marina berths supplied with power and water on request and a handful of swing moorings off the shed; spaces are limited and the shed asks owners to call 0402 363 063 to secure a spot rather than turn up. A pump-out facility serves both short and long-term mooring customers, a genuinely rare service on Wallis Lake and a point of pride for the operation. Security runs around the clock and includes thermal-camera monitoring of the yard and berths, and mechanics are on call for breakdowns and maintenance rather than resident trades, so major work should be discussed when booking. On the hire side, the three houseboats (the largest a 33-footer sleeping six) come fully equipped for self-drive holidays on the lake, while kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, canoes and runabouts fill out the day-hire menu, with winter warmer specials advertised through the season. There is no fuel berth, slipway or chandlery at the shed; for those, boats head across the channel to the Tuncurry side or use the town's marine workshops. The neighbouring sheds extend the effective service base along Little Street: Blue Peter Boatshed hires barbecue pontoon boats and runabouts with fuel included, and Aussie Boatshed sells bait, tackle, ice, live worms, rods and snorkelling gear along with pies and coffee, so a berth holder can reprovision for a fishing day without leaving the street. The shed's blog and social channels advertise current availability, and the owners prefer phone contact for berthing because spaces turn over quickly in the peak season.
Local sailing knowledge
Wallis Lake is a shallow coastal lagoon roughly 25 kilometres long and nine wide, fed by the Wallamba and Coolongolook rivers and Pipers Creek and hemmed by Wallingat National Park to the west and Booti Booti National Park to the east. It is the biggest producer of Sydney Rock Oysters in New South Wales, and the lease racks are working farms, so keep clear of the rows and never tie to them. The lake's shallowness is its main navigational quirk: stick to the marked channels, especially at low tide, and watch for lease markers after dark. Fish the racks and drop-offs for bream, flathead, whiting, blackfish and luderick, with blue swimmer crabs over the weed and mud; the shed's own blog lists kingfish and tailor turning up in season. Houseboats anchor off sandy island beaches inside the lake rather than crossing to sea, because the Forster-Tuncurry entrance, though trained, is a shifting bar that demands local knowledge and settled conditions. From the berth, a dinghy run up Breckenridge Channel reaches Forster's town wharf, restaurants and the breakwall, and the twin-town bridge gives access to Tuncurry's ramp and co-op. Dolphins are daily company in the channel and the lake supports rays, turtles and good birdlife. Summer weekends bring heavy traffic, so early departures beat the rush to the islands; in winter the lake empties and the oyster sheds along the foreshore sell direct, which is as good a reason as any to keep a berth here year-round. Forster's ocean beaches lie a short walk over the dunes from the channel, giving berth holders the unusual combination of a sheltered lake berth and surf at the doorstep.