Marina service
Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club Marina
About
Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club Marina at a glance
Licensed boating club at Bird O'Passage Parade, Scarborough, on the northern tip of the Redcliffe Peninsula overlooking Moreton Bay to the Glass House Mountains. 118-berth marina with clubhouse restaurant and bar; active sailing and fishing sections.
Service area: Brisbane Bayside
- Marina type
- yacht club marina
- Operator
- Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club
- Region
- Brisbane Bayside
- Water body
- Manly Boat Harbour, Moreton Bay
- Wet berths
- 350
- Berth types
- casual berthing, permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- travel lift
- hardstand
- showers & laundry
- licensed club
- restaurant/cafe
- gas bottles
- LPG gas
- undercover parking
- liveaboard approval
- gatecard security
- registered tradesmen list
- multihull berths to 24m
- Neighbourhood Watch marina
About Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club Marina
The Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club began, as its name insists, as a club for trailer boat owners, and that egalitarian origin still shows in a marina that has grown into one of the largest inside Manly Boat Harbour. From humble beginnings the MBTBC Marina has expanded to around 350 floating berths at 1 Wyvernleigh Close, on the northern side of the harbour basin, with a licensed clubhouse above it that serves bistro meals seven days a week to berth holders, members and the boating public alike. The atmosphere is unpretentious and heavily local: fishing sections organise competitions, cruising boats are welcomed for short stays, and the clubhouse deck fills with the same faces most weekends. Unlike the squadron across the harbour, berthing here is tied directly to club membership for longer stays; anyone renting for three months or more must become a full member of the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club, a structure that keeps the marina's community tight-knit and its rates grounded. The berth mix tells the story of the membership: monohull pens from 10 to 17 metres, and a substantial multihull allocation running from 10 metres right up to 24 metres, reflecting how strongly Moreton Bay sailors have taken to catamarans and trimarans. Visitors consistently single out the location: of the three marinas inside Manly Boat Harbour that take casuals, MBTBC sits closest to the Manly Harbour Village shops and to Muirs chandlery, which for a cruising yacht mid-refit is worth more than any amenity list. It is, in short, a boatie's marina run by a club that still remembers the trailer ramp.
Marina facilities
Berthing covers monohull pens at 10, 12, 13.5, 15, 16 and 17 metres and multihull berths from 10 through to 24 metres, rented long term to club members with short-term casual berthing open to cruising boats; living aboard permanently requires marina office approval and attracts a live-aboard fee. Power and water are supplied at berths, and access is by gatecard, which also opens the amenities block housing showers, toilets and a coin-operated laundry. Haul-out is handled by a 35-tonne travel lift and hardstand, with strict rules: no pedestrian access to the hardstand while the lift is operating, and hardstand and environmental regulations enforced throughout. Fuel is dispensed at a dedicated pontoon, signed by a yellow line from the main channel, selling diesel, unleaded petrol and LPG during office hours, Monday to Friday 8am to 4.30pm and weekends and public holidays 8am to midday, closed Good Friday and Christmas Day. Parking is allocated to berth owners and renters, one car per berth inside the grounds including undercover spaces, with visitors directed to public parking in Fairlead Crescent. House rules are club-typical and sensible: fishing within the marina is prohibited, pets are not kept aboard without management authorisation and dogs must be leashed on the walkways, children are supervised at all times, and the marina operates as a Neighbourhood Watch area where unfamiliar faces can expect a friendly query. A registered tradesmen list is kept at the marina office, and outside contractors may work on vessels with the marina manager's prior approval. The clubhouse bar and restaurant trade seven days, with bookings on 07 3396 8161, and the marina office answers on 07 3893 0810 or berths@mbtbcmarina.com.au.
Local sailing knowledge
MBTBC occupies the northern corner of Manly Boat Harbour, reached via the same dredged, beaconed entrance channel that serves the whole harbour; the channel across Waterloo Bay shallows quickly outside the marks, so inbound boats keep to the leads, particularly on the bigger ebb tides. Inside, the club's fuel pontoon is the first useful landmark, picked out by following the yellow line from the main channel. The practical advantage of this marina over its harbour neighbours is shore-side: Manly Harbour Village is a few minutes' walk and covers the cruising essentials, a minimart, bakery, butcher, chemist, post office, newsagent, doctor and restaurants, with Muirs chandlery close enough to carry a gearbox back from. Buses run to Wynnum Plaza, and the train from Manly reaches Brisbane's CBD in about 45 minutes, making this a favourite staging post for interstate cruisers. Out on the bay, Wellington Point and its low-tide sand walk to King Island are just south, St Helena Island and Green Island lie an easy sail to the north-west, and the classic anchorage at Horseshoe Bay on Peel Island fills with club boats every fine weekend. The club's fishing section knows the bay's artificial reefs and beacons intimately, and the clubhouse noticeboard is a decent intelligence source for what is biting. Afternoon north-easterly sea breezes are the summer pattern and can make the harbour entrance choppy on the ebb; winter westerlies flatten everything. For newcomers, the club's casual berthing and open clubhouse make it the easiest soft landing in the harbour, and the bistro deck at sunset is where local knowledge gets traded.