SFM Marine

About the marina

SFM Marine is a working boatyard, not a lifestyle marina, and it makes no apology for that. The yard occupies Northport at Rous Head, on the northern side of Fremantle's harbour entrance where the Swan River meets the sea, putting it within minutes of both the river run up to Perth and open water. The business has built its name over decades on one core trade: lifting boats cleanly and looking after them while they are out of the water. It serves two clienteles that rarely share a yard comfortably elsewhere: leisure owners bringing up a trailerable runabout or a cruising yacht, and commercial operators working fishing boats and workboats that cannot afford idle days. Seven-day trading from 7 am to 4 pm reflects that commercial discipline. Around the lift wells and hardstand, a rotating cast of contractors handles the trades a modern yard needs, from shipwright work and painting to engineering and fabrication, much of it for commercial refits. A limited number of wet berths with direct river access rounds out the offer, giving owners somewhere to keep a boat between hauls or while work is done. In a metro area where boatyard space has been squeezed by waterfront redevelopment, SFM's ability to haul heavy, beamy vessels, including big catamarans and trimarans, makes it a genuine piece of working waterfront infrastructure rather than just another storage option. The setting is pure Fremantle: tugs, harbour dredges and container cranes across the water, and the smell of antifoul and two-stroke rather than sunscreen. Owners who have used the yard for years tend to cite the same reason, that big lifts are routine here rather than an adventure.

Berthing & shoreside services

The yard's muscle is a pair of boat lifters with a combined capacity of up to 200 tonnes and a beam tolerance of ten metres, which covers most fishing boats, yachts, catamarans and tri-hulls in the WA fleet. Lifts can be booked up to twelve months ahead, a necessity in peak antifoul season, and every lift, launch and spray-down at the Northport site runs its wash water through a closed-loop treatment plant, keeping antifoul residue out of the harbour. Once a vessel is up, hardstand storage is available short or long term, and the yard positions itself as a maintenance hub rather than a dump-and-leave park: in-house capability covers hauling, launch and wash-down, while an extensive contractor network delivers shipwright painting, detailing and cleaning, plus commercial-grade building, fabrication, refit, repair and engineering work. Wet berthing is deliberately modest. SFM offers a limited number of berths with direct access to the river, rented short, medium or long term for small vessels upwards, priced and allocated on enquiry, and the company flags that new berths are coming, with a register open for owners who want first notice. Secure indoor tender storage is available for berth holders who want their dinghy out of the weather and out of sight. There is no fuel berth or chandlery on site; the yard's model is lift, store and fix. Contact runs through the office on 08 9430 7623, and the Downloads section of the website carries the paperwork regulars need before a lift. Booking lead times stretch in the pre-summer rush, so regulars schedule antifouls well ahead.

Local context in YouSail

This is directory context, not navigation advice. Check current charts, notices and official boating resources before passage.

Rous Head sits on the north side of the Fremantle harbour entrance, which makes SFM's geography unusually handy. Berth holders are, by the company's own measure, at the closest pens to Rottnest Island: straight out past the North Mole and 18 kilometres across to Thomson Bay. Upstream, the Swan River gives sheltered cruising all the way to Perth, so the same berth serves a sea run and a river picnic. The caution is commercial traffic: Fremantle is a busy container and general cargo port, and small boats crossing the entrance channel should keep a proper lookout and stay clear of shipping under the port's control, particularly in the narrow water off the moles. The sea breeze on this coast is a daily fact, strong south-westerlies from lunchtime through summer afternoons, and first-time visitors to the yard should time a lift booking for the calmer morning window. Ashore, the yard sits inside Fremantle's broader marine service belt, with chandlers, engine dealers, sailmakers and electronics firms scattered through O'Connor, Henderson and the harbour precinct, so parts and specialist labour are rarely more than a phone call away. Provisioning and a coffee are minutes away in North Fremantle or across the bridges in Fremantle proper. For owners based in Perth's western suburbs, the location trims the trailer drive that longer hauls to Henderson or Two Rocks would otherwise demand, which is much of why the yard's hardstand stays busy year round. Winter fronts from the north-west can make the harbour entrance lumpy, and the yard's seven-day schedule lets owners pick a weather window rather than a calendar date.