"They claim my boat is over-hanging the marina," says Neill. "They say no boat should be parked there. Well I think the council should have told me that nine and a half years ago. It's not as though ships are sailing past. The council want Missy B in their marina because it's a good-looking boat."

Neill, who says he will leave Docklands if forced out of the New Quay marina, says the area has not been well-managed. "There are numerous restaurants closing almost weekly," he said, citing a Chinese restaurant that had shut after 13 years. "We are always holding functions on the boat and are always introducing people to Docklands." For the past four years Neill has lent Missy B to Williamstown yacht club for their "Blessing of the Fleet" – and to Geelong Yacht Club for their annual regatta. "If we leave Docklands, we won't be able to continue with this."

Melbourne City Council began pressing MAB in March to make Neill remove Missy B. The marina's managing company, NewQuay Nodal, gave him a month's notice to vacate. Spokesman Ben Perry said in a letter that it had been "investigating options for a possible redesign of the East marina to accommodate your vessel elsewhere. This investigation is ongoing but will unfortunately not be concluded in the short-term".

Glen Lucas, whose Lucas Real estate collects the berthing fees for MAB, said: "We would definitely like Gene to stay on here. I think we have come up with a solution in the rearrangement of some berths. It just comes down to cost and whether Gene is willing to take that facility up." Lucas said fees would be a "bit more" than Neill had been paying. He could not give an estimate of the increase. "We don't think it would be a significantly more," he said, than added a surprising possibility: "It could even be less."

The legal structure governing the Docklands area is very complicated. There are 21 pieces of legislation and 16 agencies involved. The City of Melbourne is the committee of management for the harbour banks and seabed – and the regulatory authority for the water service is the Department of Transport through the Marine Safety Act and Parks Victoria.