While the Neutrinos are very proud of their "recycled" rafts, by their very nature, they are a source of polluting microplastics. Plastics, as a rule, break down from solar exposure. Styrofoam beads separate themselves for the larger pieces. All of the materials would be better off properly recycled. Even the styrofoam can now be recycled, though it rarely is.
Son of Town Hall and its relatives are simply ways for people to live on the cheap outside of taxable zones. The Neutrinos, while in NYC, lived next to the City. even though they were within the territorial limits of the City and the State of New York, they were very much like the Bundy family in their refusal to accept government authority.
The reason they began their trip was that the Hudson River Park Trust refused to allow them to tie up there any longer.
The most recent entry in their web site said that the French government was threatening to break it up. That was over a decade ago.