I live on a catamaran boat with my two kids – they don’t have to go to school and we do use five-star hotels for free
ANY parent will know just how hard it can be to get children off their phones.
But dad-of-two Mick Becker doesn’t need to worry about tech addiction as he raises his kids on a boat, where they go with “very limited data” for long periods of time.
Before they had children, Mick and his partner Laura, also known as Lozi, would travel for six months each year, working the rest of the time.
Both from Australia, the pair would commonly travel around Asia – to places like Indonesia and Thailand.
But after Laura unexpectedly fell pregnant during their travels, they decided to raise their children on a boat.
The couple even gave their daughter the middle name Oceania – “because that’s where she’s from.”
After many years of living on a catamaran, even raising babies on the boat, Mick said the family “craved” society – so they decided to move back to land and open a café.
But they missed the open sea and returned to living on a boat, with Mick discussing all on a 2022 episode of the Off The Grid Podcast.
He loves boat living because “you’re never bored.”
“You’ve got freedom. It’s volatile and beautiful and scary all at the same time,” he adds.
On a boat, he can spend more time with his kids too.
When he was living on land, he said he was “never 100% present.”
Constantly busy, he would “have to cut off [his children’s stories] after 15 minutes” to get back to work – adding that “it does get a bit old.”
He says he worried that “time just slips by and you’re bloody 67 years old and you’ve got six months to live.”
Mick thought living on their boat once more would be a great way for the family to build more memories together.
The children’s lives are certainly unconventional.
Not being able to attend school while out in the ocean, they have no formal education.
“It’s not an education in that you’re going to come out with an A-B-C-D but the boat kids that we have met in our travels… it’s incomparable [to children that went to school],” he says.
“A 14-year-old girl that’s been on a boat and a 14-year-old girl that’s been in Sydney. They’re just two different creatures.
“One of them you can actually sit down with an have an amazing conversation with, the other one is sort of like where are we here, we’re on the phone.”
Mike thinks “everything” you learn on a boat is “transferable” to other aspects of life.
He says: “The whole thing is education. You’re not just flapping time away.”
On the boat, “there’s never a thing that you’ve done, that you’re not going to be able to bring to [another job] – whatever it is.
“Whether it’s coming up with a budget or working out how many miles [you need to travel], it pays to be good at calculations.
“To work out how you’re going to get from a spot to a spot, you need to do maths.
“Everything’s problem solving, decision making, adventure seeking. It’s a different world.”
What are the rules for living on a boat?
In the UK, you need a long term license to live on a boat.
You either purchase a ‘residential mooring’ or ‘continual cruising’ license.
A residential mooring spot is for if you want to stay in one place – it is often more competitive and expensive than continual cruising but is necessary for people that have children at a local school.
A continual cruising license means you can stay anywhere on the towpath for up to 14 days, except if there’s visitor sign with a time limit or you’re near a lock.
A license costs around £500-£1,500 a year.
You can buy or renew a boat licence on the Canal and River Trust Website.
Mick says they have to be “smart about power” on the boat, admitting they charge their laptops and “any devices with a battery” as soon as they switch the engines on.
There is no late-night scrolling for his children.
“You don’t go playing on your computer at night [because you can’t]. You tend to get more in the rhythm of the world.”
The experiences they have can be unpredictable – and exciting.
One day, when the family were anchored at a bay, they stumbled across a local security guard who worked at a five-star hotel.
The security man recognised the family because Mick had previously offered his cousin a mackerel to eat.
He recalled how he said: “Come in, come in. Use anything you want. There’s pools, there’s tennis courts”.
As a result, the family had full use of the resort for a week, having hot showers and swimming in the pool.
Despite the positives, Mick said they faced some challenges while living on a boat.
In one instance, the family almost fell prey to pirates.
Mick explained how the boats “shot out” right in front of them and chased his catamaran down.
He offered the other sailors “grab bags” of tobacco, food, and water to get away.
Mick adds there can be very long days on the catamaran, with him not sleeping for 20 hours at a time.