An audacious quest to take a hand-built houseboat halfway around the world may be foundering just after it began.
The Neverlanding, which has engine trouble, has been anchored in a northern channel of Lake Huron for six weeks and has no plans to leave anytime soon.
Owner Steve Mylrea put it up for sale last month but then withdrew the listing. He said he plans to resume the trip but doesn’t know when.
“I have more hope than time for all my dreams,” he said.
Mylrea seems more focused on a Facebook group chronicling his trip than the trip itself. He’s angry the page won’t allow him to be the administrator.
Nearly every Facebook post he writes criticizes Kurt Rivers, the administrator of “Neverlanding – The Houseboat of Dreams (Naysayers, Spectators & Fans).”
Rivers and others think Mylrea is obsessed with Rivers.
“The guy is delusional,” Rivers said. “I’ve never experienced so much drama in my life. It’s pure madness.”
Watching all this is the robust Facebook group, whose 22,000 members are split between viewing Mylrea as a hero or an odd duck.
Phyllis Frankland of Grand Manan, New Brunswick, said the page began by extolling Mylrea, turned into attacks against Rivers, closed for a while, reopened like nothing happened, and now Mylrea seems to be abandoning his quest.
She said she’s having trouble keeping up.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a page that you never know what’s real,” Frankland said. “At this point, I don’t know what to think.”
Moving against the wind taxes houseboat engines
Mylrea, who lived south of Detroit in Harrow, Ontario, built the houseboat and embarked on his 12,000-mile voyage in April 2025. He planned to circle Michigan, go down the Mississippi River and cross the Atlantic Ocean to Africa.
He struggled mightily before reaching the tip of the Michigan Thumb in December. He resumed the trip in May. But early the next month, he was towed across Lake Huron, from Presque Isle near Alpena to the North Channel in Ontario.
Four of his six engines are blown, exhausted from moving the 70-foot boat against the wind, he told The Detroit News.
Mylrea doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the North Channel. In fact, he recently traveled 50 miles east, which is the opposite direction of his route.
During his time in the channel, he was visited by a friend, planned to see his dad, hiked a lot and spent 18 days exploring the wilderness. He said the houseboat has all the amenities of a spa, including a sauna and inflatable hot tub.
“It’s a houseboat with all the spa features, comfortable living for free,” he said.
In June, Mylrea posted the boat on Facebook Marketplace, asking $1. He offered to give the purchaser the vessel and “game show prize money.” He said he planned to fake his death and disappear.
Mylrea removed the listing after several days.
He told The News he gave the boat to a man and daughter who were living on a small vessel, but they returned it a week later.
Mylrea said he still plans to travel to Africa but also wants to do other things, such as flying his seaplane through the Caribbean, trading labor for food.
“I’m the dream weaver, weaving hundreds of dreams together,” he said. “(Africa) is the biggest dream with Neverlanding, but she has so many little dreams.”
Houseboat is stalled, but online drama gains steam
The lack of action on the water contrasts with what is happening online.
Rivers, an avid boater from Sydney, Australia, created the Facebook group after noticing a growing number of social media photos of what looked like a floating trailer off the coast of Michigan.
After starting the community in November, he gave control to Mylrea a month later while he tended to personal matters, he said.
The Facebook group turned into a political forum with Mylrea getting into extended arguments with members. He opposes abortion and supports President Donald Trump, especially Trump’s wish to annex Canada. He suspended and banned some of his critics, who were from both sides of the border.
About 8,000 members quit in three weeks, Rivers said.
“I’m trying to avoid this group becoming the circus it once was,” he said.
Rivers regained control of the group in January, which angered Mylrea and began a six-month quest to get the page back.
He cajoled and threatened Rivers, oscillating between flattery and insults, extending an olive branch only to replace it with a cudgel.
Mylrea threatened several times to terminate the voyage unless Rivers relented.
“Give me the group or delete it,” he wrote June 15 on Facebook. “Dont provoke me to make toothpicks and take a excavator to neverlanding. Although I’ll be laughing it will prob be the dr evil laugh.”
The squabble has been mostly one-way, with Rivers usually turning the other cheek.
By June, however, Rivers had had enough. He said he was tired of Mylrea threatening him publicly and privately, saying he had to change his phone number and email address.
“You may have fooled a bunch of people that are coming here to kiss your a–,” Rivers wrote June 5 on Facebook. “I’ve never seen a man talk as much s— as you do. Now you can kindly go f— yourself.”
Making waves, good and bad
What began as a feel-good story about a man on a quixotic quest has turned feel-bad.
About half of the Facebook group continues to support Mylrea, whom they call captain or “my captain.”
Matt Swanigan of Clinton Township said it doesn’t look like the captain will complete his trip, but he gave him credit for trying.
“You can’t knock a man for trying to live his dream,” Swanigan said. “I give him all the credit in the world.”
Others wonder about Mylrea’s erratic behavior.
His rambling posts on social media sometimes stretch past 5,000 words. He set up Facebook accounts under numerous names, including Phil Osophy and Kurt Rivers, and now calls himself El Bond Jamesbond.
Last week, El Bond Jamesbond wrote a post in reverse saying “Kurt Rivers” planned to hike the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail before flying through the Caribbean and South America. He was referring to himself.
Steve Cambion of Port Austin said Mylrea accused him of being Rivers because he criticized Mylrea for thinking about returning to Detroit for a boat party in July.
“He can’t comprehend that more than one person doesn’t think he’s the folk hero,” Cambion said. “The man is a walking, talking contradiction. He’s crazier than a bag of raccoons.”
Mylrea allowed he might be a bit eccentric.
He said his “autistic” mind scares people when he lets it run wild. Asked if he is autistic, he said no.
“I’m like the dumpster fire you can’t look away from,” Mylrea said.
Given the lack of progress by the Neverlanding and the uncertainty of its future, Rivers announced this past Sunday the Facebook group will be paused until the end of August.
Some members said he was playing into Mylrea’s hands by halting its coverage, but Rivers said he didn’t give a hoot.
When the group returns, it will no longer focus solely on the Neverlanding, Rivers said. It will also chronicle other unorthodox boats traversing the Great Lakes or the Great Loop, a boating route that circles the eastern half of the U.S.
The new name of the group: “Loopy Lakers – Dreams, Courage & Chaos.”
fdonnelly@detroitnews.com
(313) 223-4186
@prima_donnelly
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Houseboat captain’s voyage around the world mired in Facebook fight
Reporting by Francis X. Donnelly, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Francis X. Donnelly, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
