About
Cove Marine at a glance
Boatyard and marina at 60 Frederick Drive, Oyster Cove, at the far western end of Port Stephens, using a mobile trailer/slip for haulout making it suitable for catamarans. Offers long-term hardstand storage, marina berths, moorings, sandblasting, spray painting, mechanical and canvas work plus a small chandlery.
Service area: Port Stephens
- Marina type
- full-service marina
- Operator
- Cove Marine Pty Ltd
- Region
- Port Stephens
- Water body
- North Arm Cove (Port Stephens)
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing, swing moorings
Facilities and services
- slipway
- hardstand
- repairs & maintenance
- chandlery
- mobile trailer/slip haulout to 25t
- multihulls to 10m beam
- hardstand for 70 vessels
- long-term hardstand storage
- sandblasting
- spray painting
- canvas work
- inboard/outboard servicing and repowering
- shipwright repairs
- mechanical repairs
- marina berths
- swing moorings
About Cove Marine
Cove Marine has been working the quiet western corner of Port Stephens since 1991, when the Bailey family established the yard on seven hectares of waterfront at 60 Frederick Drive, Oyster Cove, near North Arm Cove at the far end of the port. The family still runs every part of the business personally, and that hands-on structure defines the place: customers deal directly with an owner whether they are booking a haulout, buying shackles from the chandlery or negotiating a season on the hardstand. The yard's signature is its mobile trailer and slip haulout system rather than a fixed railway or travel lift, a setup that lets it handle catamarans and other multihulls up to 10 metres of beam alongside monohulls to 25 tonnes, and that has made it the default haulout option for the growing multihull fleet on Port Stephens and the Myall Lakes. The location is genuinely out of the way. Oyster Cove sits among oyster leases, mangrove islands and low farmland, twenty minutes by water from the port entrance and a world apart from the holiday bustle of Nelson Bay and Shoal Bay on the southern shore. The clientele reflects that: local professional and recreational fishermen, cruising yachts wintering over on the hardstand, trailer boat owners from Newcastle and the western suburbs of the port, and multihull sailors who treat the Myall system as their home ground. Long-term hardstand storage is a big part of the trade, with space for up to 70 vessels in the yard. It is the kind of yard where a boat can sit ashore for years between family outings, and nobody minds.
Marina facilities
The operation divides between haulout and yard work, berthing, and retail. The slipping facility lifts vessels to 25 tonnes, including multihulls to 10 metres wide, using a mobile trailer and slip arrangement that avoids the beam constraints of a conventional travel lift; haulout customers can then take the boat onto the hardstand, which holds up to 70 vessels and supports long-term storage for owners who leave boats ashore through the off-season. Yard services are broad and listed plainly: shipwright and mechanical repairs, servicing and repowering of inboard and outboard engines, sandblasting, spray painting, and canvas work, with the trades handled on site by the yard team. The chandlery is small but stocked for the needs of a working boatyard's catchment, covering fasteners, paints, anodes, ropes and general hardware. On the water, the business offers marina berths for casual and permanent customers plus swing moorings in the cove, so a boat can move between mooring, berth and hardstand within the one operation, an arrangement that suits owners doing extended refits. Water and basic amenities serve the berths; this is a work-first yard rather than a resort marina, so expectations on clubrooms and dining should be calibrated accordingly. There is no fuel wharf; fuel is available at marinas around Nelson Bay and Soldiers Point. Bookings and quotes run through the office on 02 4982 4832. For owners comparing options, the yard's published capacities, 25 tonnes and 10-metre beam, and its explicit welcome to multihulls are the deciding details, since the next catamaran-capable haulout options are some distance away.
Local sailing knowledge
Getting to Cove Marine means understanding the two halves of Port Stephens. The port entrance between Yacaaba Head and Tomaree Head is wide, deep and free of any bar, one of the easiest big-water entries on the New South Wales coast, and the run past Nelson Bay and Soldiers Point is straightforward. The western reaches are a different matter: beyond Snapper Island the water shallows into a maze of channels, oyster leases and sandbanks around the Karuah River mouth, and the run into North Arm Cove and Oyster Cove wants a chartplotter, a rising tide and a eye on the leads, especially after floods shift the banks. Draft under two metres is comfortable; deeper boats should time the top of the tide. Once there, the reward is shelter in almost any weather and direct access to two cruising grounds. South and east lie the open anchorages of Port Stephens, from Fame Cove to Shoal Bay, with dolphin cruises and whale watching in season; north and west, the Myall River winds past Tea Gardens into the Myall Lakes, where shallow-draft boats can spend days among the lake channels. Ashore, Karuah, famous for its oysters, is the nearest town with a pub and supplies, while Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest across the bridge offer cafes, a supermarket and fuel. The cove itself is working water: oyster farmers run their punts at first light and mud crabs work the mangroves. Marine Rescue Port Stephens covers the area, and the nearest fuel and full marina services are at Soldiers Point and Nelson Bay, twenty minutes away by boat.