Riding low, waterlogged floats, cracked decking, worn guide-pile rollers, a gangway that has dropped: we put pontoons right, and we build new ones. We work the Port Stephens waterfront from Nelson Bay and Salamander Bay round to Lemon Tree Passage and Tea Gardens. Describe yours and where it sits.
Get a Quote →Port Stephens is one of the busiest recreational boating harbours on the NSW coast, and waterfront pontoons around Nelson Bay, Shoal Bay and Salamander Bay cop constant wave action from boat traffic on top of normal tidal cycling. Add in exposure to nor'easters that funnel straight into the bay, and floats, decking and mooring hardware wear faster here than on a sheltered lake.
Most pontoon problems come down to three things: the flotation itself degrading or taking on water, the decking and frame corroding or rotting where it meets the water line, and mooring/anchor points working loose from repeated wave loading. A proper repair job checks all three, not just whatever's visibly broken.
Deck repairs, frame corrosion treatment, mooring hardware replacement and general upkeep. Ongoing annual maintenance costs scale with pontoon size, age and how exposed the mooring is to weather.
Replacing waterlogged or degraded floats without rebuilding the whole structure, where the frame and decking are still sound. Priced by how many floats need replacing and their size.
Full new floating pontoons for waterfront properties, sized and engineered for the specific exposure of your section of the harbour. Cost depends heavily on size, materials and how much engineering the site needs.
Pile, chain and anchor system upgrades and repairs to keep a pontoon secure through Port Stephens' exposed weather events.
A pontoon sitting low on one corner, or lower all round than it used to, most often has a float that has taken on water. Floats crack, seams open, and once water is in, a float only gets heavier. A low corner can also be a float strap that has let go or a frame member that has twisted. Then there is the rest of what fails here: guide-pile rollers and brackets worn through, deck boards gone soft or split, frame joints and fixings rusting at the water line, and a gangway that has dropped because a hinge or the landing has moved.
We pull the waterlogged floats, fit new ones sized to the frame, and bring the deck back level. We replace rollers, brackets and hinges, re-deck in sections or across the whole top, cut out corroded frame and replace it, and re-hang the gangway so it meets the deck squarely. Where the frame is past saving, we build a new pontoon for the site.
The water itself changes the job. NSW DPI counts the whole Port Stephens estuary as part of the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park. The park also takes in the Karuah and Myall Rivers and their creeks up to the tidal limit. It was set up in December 2005, and its zones and rules started in 2007. DPI describes Port Stephens as the state's largest drowned river valley. DPI's permit guidance for the park lists driving posts or piles, building pontoons or jetties, and installing or relocating a mooring as works that need a marine parks permit, applied for through DPI Fisheries. Development in or next to the park is also assessed under marine estate and planning law. For moorings, DPI says every application goes out for native title notification, which takes at least 28 days, and it will not grant consent until any required council development consent and a Transport for NSW mooring licence are in place. So new piles, a new pontoon or a mooring move all start with the permit, and a mooring move has that 28 days in front of it.
Height matters too. Port Stephens Council announced in December 2024 that its Coastal Management Program had been certified by the NSW Minister for the Environment. The program sets out 60 actions over 10 years to reduce the impacts of coastal and tidal inundation, coastal erosion and dune transgression. With tidal inundation named as a hazard, we work out pile height and gangway length from the tides the site actually sees before we replace piles or a gangway. Piles have to clear the highest water the site gets so the pontoon cannot ride off the top of them, and the gangway has to be long enough to stay walkable at the bottom of the tide, when the pontoon sits furthest below the landing.
Enquiries are welcome from waterfront properties in Nelson Bay, Shoal Bay, Soldiers Point, Salamander Bay, Lemon Tree Passage and Tea Gardens. Wherever your frontage sits on the Port Stephens estuary, or on the Karuah and Myall Rivers up to the tidal limit, NSW DPI counts the water as part of the Port Stephens–Great Lakes Marine Park, so DPI's marine park permit rules apply to works there. If your property is on the water nearby but outside these suburbs, say where in the form.
Tell us what you need and where the property is.