Welcome to Plathville’s Ethan, Siblings Criticize Mom’s Houseboat

Welcome to Plathville’s Ethan, Moriah and Micah Plath aren’t holding back when it comes to their thoughts on mom Kim Plath’s new houseboat.

“This is your home?” Ethan, 26, asks in Us Weekly’s exclusive sneak peek of the Tuesday, July 30, episode of the TLC series.

Kim, 51, replies, “Yeah,” quickly explaining, “Well, there’s more to it. It’s not just this.”

Earlier this season, fans learned that Kim moved from Georgia to Florida to live on a houseboat with her youngest children after splitting from Barry Plath in December 2021. Kim and Barry, 56, share nine children: Ethan, Hosanna, 24, Micah, 23, Moriah, 21, Lydia, 20, Isaac, 18, Amber, 15, Cassia, 13, and Mercy, 11.

During the upcoming episode, three of the exes’ eldest children reveal what they really think about the new house while their mom isn’t looking over their shoulders.

“Looking at the boat, I think we’re all thinking the same thing, but none of us are actually saying it,” Moriah says in a confessional, teasing, “The boat doesn’t run. Do the lights work? How does this even work?”

Micah is equally as taken aback by his mom’s living situation, asking, “How far do you have to go to go to the bathroom? How far do you have to go to shower?” He notes that the “water looks kinda brown.”

Ethan, who still resides in Minnesota after separating from his wife, Olivia Plath, in 2023, is a little visibly put off by the houseboat.

“Does it run?” he asks his mom, who resides on the water with daughters Amber, Cassia and Mercy. Kim just brushes off the question, saying, “It hasn’t run in a year” as she gives the brood a peek of the small kitchen, sleeping nook and outdoor sitting area.

After getting a tour of the vessel, Ethan shares his unfiltered thoughts with the cameras. “My mom went from her and my dad and all these kids in this house to split and then she’s on the boat. That’s home now,” he explains. “And the boat doesn’t even run. She can’t get on the water. She’s stuck in the dock.”

A concerned Ethan adds, “I guess all I can say is, just things are different now.”

Kim, meanwhile, gushed about her new world during the season 6 premiere earlier this month. “Ever since Barry and I separated, I’ve been trying to figure out where I’m going to go and what I’m going to do, and it’s hard not knowing a lot of things,” the mom of nine confessed. “But I do know I don’t miss that big house. I would rather be on a small boat with my girls than a big house with … fill in the blank.”

Welcome to Plathville airs on TLC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.