Marina power should be designed as marina power, not as a household extension lead installation.
AS/NZS 3004.1:2014 is current and addresses low-voltage AC marina installations. Relevant work also interacts with AS/NZS 3000 and state electrical law.
Buyer scope
- supply capacity per berth
- pedestal rating
- RCD/protection
- cable routing
- isolation and earthing strategy
- corrosion/stray-current control
- emergency isolation
- metering
- potable water and backflow control
- hose bibs
- fire services
- data/CCTV
- lighting
Handover
Obtain electrical certificates, single-line diagrams, circuit schedules and operating instructions. For multi-berth marinas, plan spare capacity rather than sizing only to current loads.
Services on a floating structure are their own discipline
Power and water on a pontoon are not a household extension run over water. The environment is wet and salty, the structure moves relative to the shore, and the consequence of getting it wrong ranges from nuisance tripping to electric shock in water.
The movement is the part buyers underestimate. Every cable and pipe crossing from shore to a floating structure has to accommodate the full range of movement, repeatedly, for years.
Questions to settle before you specify
- What is actually needed — lighting, a general outlet, vessel shore power, water, or a full services package?
- Who designs and certifies the electrical installation, and under what requirements?
- How do cables and pipes cross the shore-to-float transition, and what accommodates the movement?
- What protective devices are required, and who tests them and how often?
- How is the installation isolated for maintenance?
What to put in the RFQ
- Scope of services with load requirements for each.
- Named responsibility for electrical design, installation and certification.
- The transition detail for cables and pipes, including movement allowance.
- Protection, isolation and testing regime, with intervals and who performs them.
- Documentation to be handed over: certificates, test results and as-built layouts.
Where services go wrong
- Cables run without proper allowance for movement, then fatigued at the transition.
- Fittings selected for a dry environment.
- Isolation and testing never scheduled, so protection is assumed rather than verified.
- Services added after the structure is built, compromising both the layout and the certification.
Questions buyers ask
Can an electrician who does houses do a pontoon?
Marina and waterfront electrical work has its own requirements. Ask specifically what the installer has done before in this environment, and what certification they will provide on completion.
What if I only want a light?
The environment does not get easier because the scope is small. Wet, salt-laden, moving installations still need appropriate equipment, protection and certification.