Marina service
Paynesville Slip Road Maritime Precinct Marina
About
Paynesville Slip Road Maritime Precinct Marina at a glance
New council-managed marina at Paynesville's Slip Road Maritime Precinct with two floating berthing jetties creating around 40 berths from 12m to 28m, each with power and water and gated access.
Service area: Gippsland Lakes
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- East Gippsland Shire Council
- Region
- Gippsland Lakes
- Water body
- McMillan Strait, Gippsland Lakes
- Wet berths
- 40
- Maximum vessel
- 28 m
- Berth types
- permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- 24/7 security
- power & water
- boat ramp
- fire services
- service jetty for marine businesses
- new commercial-grade boat ramp
- boardwalk & recreation area
- upgraded amenity block
- gated 24/7 access
- EOI berth allocation
- flood-aware seawall & drainage
About Paynesville Slip Road Maritime Precinct Marina
The Slip Road Maritime Precinct marina is Paynesville's newest berthing facility, a council-built marina of around 40 berths created as the centrepiece of a multi-million-dollar overhaul of the town's maritime industry waterfront on McMillan Strait. East Gippsland Shire Council initiated the project in response to chronic demand for berthing across the Gippsland Lakes, and construction began in January 2022 with Carter Marine Group driving piles and fabricating precast elements. The job was not straightforward: unforeseen lakebed conditions forced a redesign and temporary demobilisation, but the revised works, jointly funded by the Australian Government, the Victorian Government and the shire, were pushed through to completion around mid-2026 with a design life of about 50 years. What emerged is a modern counterpoint to Paynesville's older public wharves: two floating berthing jetties, including a main jetty roughly 80 metres long and 2.4 metres wide with floating finger pontoons and a gangway, forming about 40 berths for boats from 12 to 28 metres, each with power and water behind gated access. The precinct deliberately keeps a working flavour, sitting alongside the marine businesses of Slip Road and the heritage-listed Paynesville slipway, and incorporating a new service jetty and commercial boat ramp. Council called expressions of interest for the berths ahead of opening, and early uptake reflected how scarce secure, serviced berthing of this size has become in the Lakes. The project also replaced an ageing fixed jetty with floating jetties positioned north and south of the ramp after consultation with ramp users, a change that improved both berthing capacity and everyday launching. For Paynesville, the precinct represents the largest single investment in berthing infrastructure in decades, and it shifts the town's capacity mix toward the larger cruisers that older pen layouts could not take.
Marina facilities
The berthing infrastructure is new throughout. Around 40 berths from 12 to 28 metres are arranged along two floating jetties, the principal jetty running about 80 metres with floating finger pontoons on both sides, and every berth is supplied with power and water. Access is gated, giving berth holders 24-hour security in the manner of a private marina even though the facility is council-managed under the same regulatory family as the shire's other marinas at Metung and Slip Bight, which means seaworthy registered vessels, five-knot speed limits, substantial public liability insurance and no live-aboard use. Fire and potable water services were designed into the precinct from the outset rather than retrofitted. Supporting facilities extend well beyond the pens: a service jetty caters to the marine businesses that anchor the precinct, and a new, longer and deeper commercial-grade boat ramp replaces the old ramp, improving launching for everything from trailer boats to commercial workboats. The upgraded amenity block was completed early in the program, and the finished precinct includes boardwalks, pathways, a grassed recreation area, landscaping and an art installation, plus a reconfigured sealed car park. The seawall and car park were engineered for the site's flood behaviour, allowing high lake levels to overflow into the car park and dissipate through improved drainage without pushing water onto roads and neighbouring property. Berth allocation is handled by council through an expression-of-interest process, and the shire publishes its fees and conditions. For repairs and haul-out, berth holders are a short walk or dinghy run from the Gippsland Ports boatyard's 40-tonne travel lift and 120-tonne slipway and the town's marine contractors.
Local sailing knowledge
Slip Road sits at the southern end of the Paynesville waterfront where McMillan Strait widens toward Newlands Arm and Lake King, and the precinct's position is practical rather than scenic-first: this is the marine industry end of town, where boats have been slipped and repaired for well over a century. The heritage-listed Slip and Winch Shed of the old Paynesville slipway stands nearby at 60-74 Slip Road, a reminder that this shoreline has hauled vessels since the nineteenth century. Approaching the marina is simple: the strait is deep, marked and sheltered in almost all weathers, with the Raymond Island ferry the main traffic to watch. From a berth here, the town centre's supermarkets, bakery, pubs and fuel are a short walk or a minute by tender, and Progress Jetty's free showers and barbecues are just around the foreshore. Cruising options open in both directions: north through the strait past the town canals to Lake Victoria, or south into Newlands Arm and Lake King for Metung, the Bunga Arm and Lakes Entrance. The precinct's flood-aware design reflects a local reality: lake levels can rise quickly after heavy rain in the Latrobe and Thomson catchments, and old hands remember water over the foreshore. Visiting boats passing through should note that berths here are permanent allocations rather than casual berthing, so overnighters are better served at the free esplanade berths in town. For anyone basing a bigger boat in the Lakes long-term, though, the combination of a serviced, gated 12 to 28 metre berth and immediate access to the town's slipping, lifting and trades makes this precinct the most practical address in Paynesville.