The Naval Update lets you build a custom boat block by block on a floating grid. Here's the full run — station, hull, sails, engine, anchor — plus the two things nobody explains: why it won't move, and how to actually remove a piece.
| Boat Building Station | 1 tarp + 200 wood — the platform you build on |
| Workbench | Level 1 for the basics; Level 2 (plus HQM + gears) for the engine |
| Core parts | Hull/deck blocks, a helm (steering wheel), sails and/or a small engine, an anchor |
| Extras | Ladders, ramps, planks, a door frame, a lock — and mountable cannons if you're feeling piratey |
Craft the Boat Building Station and deploy it in deep water. When it's floating in deep enough water it turns blue and goes active — that's your build grid.
Lay down your hull and deck on the grid. Boats cap at 10×5 and two walls tall (plus a third-height wall), so no tower ships. Each block runs roughly 4–15 low grade fuel plus wood.
Add a helm (steering wheel), then your propulsion: sails (no fuel, cheap) and/or a small engine on the bottom deck (fast, but burns low grade fuel hard).
Add an anchor to hold position, plus ladders/ramps as you like — and a lock, or someone will simply sail off with your boat.
Interact with the helm to finish construction and launch. You're now captain.
📷 Screenshot coming for this:
You built it, you're at the helm, and it just sits there. It's almost always one of these four — check them in order.
The anchor is still down. A dropped anchor holds you in place on purpose. Raise it before you try to move — this catches everyone at least once.
Your sail isn't catching wind. The sail has to be deployed (lowered so it's open, not furled) and turned toward the direction you want to travel — the wind does the pushing. A furled or wrongly-angled sail gives zero thrust.
The engine is out of fuel. The small engine runs on low grade fuel and drinks it fast. Empty tank = dead motor. Sails are your fuel-free backup for exactly this.
It's too heavy for its power. Boats use a weight-to-thrust system: more sail/engine = more speed, but every block, cannon, and piece of cargo adds mass. Pile on too much without adding power and it crawls — or won't move at all. Add thrust or shed weight.
Placed a part wrong? Here's the one the guides skip: use the hammer in the boat's build/edit mode to remove or change a piece — the regular Remover Tool does not work on boat parts. Hop into edit mode on the station, hit the piece with your hammer, and it comes off. People burn a lot of time trying to remove-tool a boat and assuming it's bugged; it isn't, you just use the hammer.
Powering your ship or running a server? Grab these next.