MOSGIEL STREET AT WAR OVER BOAT ON BLOCKS — OWNER CLAIMS "HERITAGE STATUS"
The boat hasn't touched water since 1994. Neither has the driveway seen a car.
A clinker hull propped up on besser blocks in a Mosgiel front yard has split an entire Gladstone Road North cul-de-sac. The owner insists the vessel is "heritage". Three neighbours insist it's a boat full of spiders.
Owner Roydon Petrie, 71, told The Daily Yarn the boat — named Sea Biscuit — had been on the blocks since 1994. He called it "part of the character of the street". The trailer was removed in 2003. The outboard was sold to a man in Outram. The hull, Petrie said, was "structurally sentimental".
Next-door neighbour Coralie Whitcombe, 68, disagrees. "It's a shipwreck on dry land. Gerald would never have stood for it, and Gerald put up with a lot. There's a possum living in the cabin. I've seen it. It waved."
The Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board has received four complaints, two from the same household. A spokesperson said the boat did not meet any recognised heritage criteria. Ratepayers were welcome to "apply through the appropriate channels", she added, which she conceded did not exist for boats.
Petrie has now taped a laminated A4 sign to the bow reading "HERITAGE — DO NOT TOUCH". Mrs Whitcombe describes this as "the act of a wee shit who knows he's losing". A second sign on the stern simply says "1994".
The possum could not be reached for comment.
Owner Roydon Petrie, 71, told The Daily Yarn the boat — named Sea Biscuit — had been on the blocks since 1994. He called it "part of the character of the street". The trailer was removed in 2003. The outboard was sold to a man in Outram. The hull, Petrie said, was "structurally sentimental".
Next-door neighbour Coralie Whitcombe, 68, disagrees. "It's a shipwreck on dry land. Gerald would never have stood for it, and Gerald put up with a lot. There's a possum living in the cabin. I've seen it. It waved."
The Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board has received four complaints, two from the same household. A spokesperson said the boat did not meet any recognised heritage criteria. Ratepayers were welcome to "apply through the appropriate channels", she added, which she conceded did not exist for boats.
Petrie has now taped a laminated A4 sign to the bow reading "HERITAGE — DO NOT TOUCH". Mrs Whitcombe describes this as "the act of a wee shit who knows he's losing". A second sign on the stern simply says "1994".
The possum could not be reached for comment.