Is it a boat or a house – the decision is disputed
Authorities may have floated that his boat is a house but a selfconfessed hippy will keep working on his vessel until it’s all at sea.
Just Doi, who lives in the large ark-like structure with his partner, has battled with authorities since the Dunedin City Council issued his vessel Tohora with a notice to fix, requiring consent.
‘‘They simply have no idea, out of their depth entirely, afloat on a sea of their own ignorance and mystic divination,’’ he told Stuff on Wednesday night.
‘‘I’m building a boat, by God, and they cannot stop me,’’ Doi, who lives at Aramoana near Dunedin, said.
The debate as to whether it was a boat or a house also involved the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
A draft determination, based on the advice of a naval architect that it was indeed a boat, was in turn appealed by the Dunedin council.
That appeal prompted a hearing, a site inspection and later, a U-turn, with the ministry’s draft determination supporting the council.
MBIE manager of determinations Katie Gordon said ‘‘the determination turned on the definitions in the Building Act of ‘building’ and ‘vessel, boat, ferry, or craft used in navigation’.
‘‘The determination concluded that the structure in its current state (and when the council issued the notice to fix) is a building under the act and is not excluded from the definition of a building as a ‘vessel, boat, ferry, or craft used in navigation’.
That was due to the structure having features that were incompatible with a boat used in navigation and that were not necessary for the construction of a boat, she said.
The determination took into account the findings of the naval architect engaged by MBIE to assist in this matter, she said.
It also acknowledged that work could be carried out which would allow ‘‘the structure to become a boat used in navigation which would then not be subject to the requirements of the act’’.
Doi believed the decision, which referenced that boats must be capable of being used on water and be able to be moved ‘‘from anchorage or mooring on a reasonably frequent basis’’, would be of significant interest to boat owners/users all over the country.
He also questioned that all ‘‘non-nautical’’ windows be removed from the structure, which ‘‘would jeopardise all those quirky runabouts with a ute canopy turned around as a windshield, which demonstrate the essence of what Kiwis are supposed to be good at’’.
Earlier this month Doi told Stuff he didn’t ‘‘give a fish tit about what decision they make because it is all based on a false premise that this isn’t a boat’’.
‘‘We have flooding issues in Aramoana and other places where council should be applying their efforts to ... rather than hassling an old hippy who is building a boat.’’
The structure, which has been viewed by almost 4000 members of the public, to date has cost him about $50,000.
Doi said the boat was ‘‘like an insurance policy for me’’, given rising sea waters – but before he launched his boat he had a more pressing fight on his hands.