R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-5-25.1 — Houseboats — Taxation — Definitions

All houseboats being used as a principal or temporary place of residence or domicile
by a person shall be taxed as personal property by the local tax assessor. For the
purposes of this section, “houseboat” means a watercraft or an industrial or commercial
structure on or in the waters of the state, floating or nonfloating, which is designed
or remodeled as a place of habitation and is not principally used for transportation,
and this definition includes platforms and waterborne hotels and restaurants; “local
tax assessor”, for the purposes of this section, means the assessor for the city or
town within whose harbor line the houseboat is physically situated.