Boats & Watercraft (every vessel + water content)

Rust's ocean is a separate game inside the game. Highest-tier loot lives out there (Cargo, Oil Rigs, Underwater Labs) and so do the most expensive PvP mistakes. Every vessel runs on Low Grade Fuel (LGF), every vessel is lootable, and every vessel gets hijacked the moment you walk away with the engine running.

February 2026 Naval Update: Rust shipped its largest-ever ocean expansion on 5 February 2026. It added player-built modular boats, mounted cannons and boat-to-boat naval combat, a brand-new Deep Sea biome beyond the map edge, Ghost Ships, AI PT Boats, tropical islands, and the Floating City safe-zone monument — and it removed the Tugboat. The dedicated Naval Update sections at the bottom of this page cover all of that in detail; the classic vessel guides above remain accurate for the Kayak, Rowboat, RHIB and submarines.

Watercraft at a Glance

All boats spawn with 50 LGF when purchased. All boats accept up to 500 LGF in their tank.

Kayak

Entry boat. 50 scrap for the BP at Fishing Village, plus 25 scrap for the paddle BP. Crafted from 600 wood, 100 cloth, 75 metal frags.

• HP: 200
• Fuel: None — alternating left/right click with a paddle
• Seats: 2 (both paddlers help reach full speed)
• Use case: Wipe-day fishing, river crossings, cheap recon. Stay within ~200m offshore.

Skip it the moment you can afford a rowboat.

Rowboat (Motor Rowboat)

The workhorse. 125 scrap at any Fishing Village vendor.

• HP: 400
• Seats: 4 (driver, 2 mid passengers, bow seat with stash beneath)
• Storage: 1 small box under the bow seat
• Fuel rate: 1 LGF per 10 seconds (~6/min) at full throttle — a full 500 tank runs ~83 minutes
• Top speed: Slow. Noticeably worse than RHIB, especially loaded

When to use Rowboat vs RHIB

• Solo/duo coastal fishing, Small Oil Rig, river runs: Rowboat. Fuel savings beat raw speed.
• Cargo Ship, Large Oil Rig, group PvP, loot ferrying: RHIB. Extra HP, storage, and bulletproof windshield pay for the 175 extra scrap.

RHIB

The premium combat/utility boat. 300 scrap at Fishing Village.

• HP: 500
• Seats: 6 (driver behind bulletproof windshield, 5 passengers)
• Storage: 36 slots — by far the largest of any purchasable boat
• Fuel rate: 1 LGF per 5 seconds (~12/min) — a full 500 tank runs ~41 minutes
• Top speed: Fastest surface vessel in the game

RHIB advantages

• Bulletproof glass protects the driver from frontal AK fire — critical at Oil Rig
• Cargo Ship boarding: matches Cargo's speed long enough to ladder the side or ram the rear platform
• Large Oil Rig: full 5-person raid team + ammo + meds in one trip
• Loot ferry: 36 slots = a whole monument run home in one bottom

Always bring 2x stack spare LGF on any RHIB run over 10 minutes.

Tugboat (added July 2023 — removed February 2026 Naval Update)

Important: Tugboats were removed from the game in the February 2026 Naval Update. Facepunch's patch notes state they “might come back later,” but as of the Naval Update they no longer spawn on vanilla servers — their role as a mobile sea base has been replaced by player-built modular boats (see the Naval Update sections below). The Tugboat material below is retained for historical reference and for the minority of modded or older servers that still run them.

When present, the Tugboat was Rust's mobile base. It was free — Tugboats spawned naturally in the ocean near Harbor monuments, typically 1–2 per server. Whoever boarded first and authorized at the helm owned it.

• HP: 3,000 (more than any other watercraft)
• Build privilege: Tugboat has a baked-in TC at the helm — you cannot place a normal TC, you auth at the wheel. Privilege covers the entire deck and hull.
• Buildable area: 3 doorways take doors/locks (2 bridge + 1 below-deck). Deploy boxes, lockers, bags, furnaces, workbenches, small refinery below decks.
• Fuel: High consumption — bring 1000+ LGF for any serious voyage
• Top speed: Slow. It is a tugboat.

How to defend a Tugboat

• Sheet metal doors + code locks on all 3 doorways immediately on claim
• External walls along the bridge railing block grapple-hook boarders
• Locker + bag + meds below decks so you can respawn if sunk
• Park in deep ocean — sharks become your perimeter alarm; griefers can't C4 from shore

Can a Tugboat be raided?

Yes. 8 C4, ~16 rockets, or ~10 torpedoes destroys one. Sinking floods the interior and exposes unlocked containers. Tugboats are the #1 target for organized clans day 3+.

Solo Submarine

The Underwater Lab key. 200 scrap at the Fishing Village vendor (spawns with 50 LGF).

• HP: 500
• Seats: 1 (driver only)
• Storage: 12 slots
• Fuel rate: ~6 LGF/min
• Depth: Safe 0–50m, light pressure damage 50–100m (1 HP/s), crushing damage 100m+ (5 HP/s). Max practical dive ~45m for normal lab moonpools.
• Torpedo: Single forward launcher. Torpedoes cost 75 scrap per pair at Fishing Village. 150 damage per hit, fire rate 1 per 4s, range 500m.

Solo Sub use cases

• Underwater Lab insertion — surface inside the moonpool, run the puzzle
• Cargo Ship harassment — torpedo from below
• Oil Rig flanking — surface beneath the rig, ladder up the blind side
• Tugboat raiding — ~10 torpedoes sinks one when you can't get C4

Duo Submarine

300 scrap. Two-seater with significantly upgraded firepower.

• HP: 700
• Seats: 2 (driver + periscope passenger)
• Storage: 12 slots
• Periscope: Passenger can scan the surface while submerged — critical for stealth Cargo Ship approaches
• Torpedoes: Dual launchers — twice the burst damage of the solo sub
• Dive/surface mechanics: Same depth tolerances as solo. Hold Space to surface, Ctrl to dive. Submarines move slower underwater than on the surface.

The duo sub is the Underwater Lab raiding vehicle. Driver manages fuel; passenger periscopes and fires torpedoes.

Sharks

Real PvE threat anywhere you swim deep.

• HP: ~100
• Damage: ~20 HP per bite to a naked, ~10 HP to fully geared. Bite cadence ~2 seconds while in range.
• Spawn: Dive sites, underwater lab exteriors, deep ocean around moonpools and treasure spots
• Counters: Speargun (cheap kill), submarine torpedo (overkill), or stay in your sub. Never swim down to a lab moonpool without diving gear unless you accept the risk.

Sharks ignore boats on the surface — they're only a problem when you're in the water.

Water-Only Monuments & Objectives

Cargo Ship

Spawns every 50–60 min of uptime, follows a fixed sea route, docks at Harbor. Board via side ladders, player-placed ladders, hidden red containers during Harbor dock, or helicopter drop. Loot: locked crates (hack the computer, 15-min timer), scientist drops, military crates.

Small Oil Rig

3 scientists, single locked crate (15-min hack). Green keycard. Solo-friendly.

Large Oil Rig

8+ scientists incl. Heavy, two locked crates, red keycard room. Group content. Locked-crate alarm summons rival defenders.

Underwater Labs

Procedurally generated seafloor dungeons. 3 labs per map (fewer but larger). 11 crate types including elite, tech, fuel, ration. Puzzles use green/blue/red keycards + fuses. Reset ~40 min.

Fishing Village (Small & Large)

Safe zone. Sells all boats, fishing rod BP, paddle BP, diving gear, hazmat, torpedoes.

Fueling Boats

All boats run on LGF only. Crafted 3 Animal Fat + 1 Cloth = 1 LGF, or 1 Crude Oil = 3 LGF at a Small Oil Refinery.

Boats only consume fuel when accelerating under power. Coasting and idling are free — but a running engine means anyone can hop in and steal it.

Refuel at your base, a safe zone, or from spare LGF stacks in the boat's storage.

Common Boat Mistakes

• Engine running on the beach. Anyone walking by yoinks 300 scrap of RHIB and your loot. Exit and clear the driver seat before walking off.
• Parking in PvP zones. Don't dock at the foot of Large Oil Rig's ladder. Park behind a rock on the blind side.
• No spare LGF. Empty 800m from shore = sub/shark food. Always 200+ spare on any run.
• Solo Large Oil Rig with loot aboard. If you die up top, your RHIB is theirs. Never bring what you can't lose.
• Tugboat with no door locks. Auth at the wheel doesn't stop boarders — code all 3 doors immediately.
• Surfacing a sub in an occupied moonpool. You appear pre-aimed at. Use the periscope first.
• Spraying torpedoes at sharks. 75 scrap a pair — speargun the sharks, save torps for boats and labs.

Sources

1. Corrosion Hour — Rust Rowboat Guide
2. Corrosion Hour — Rust RHIB Guide
3. Corrosion Hour — Rust Tugboat Guide
4. Corrosion Hour — Rust Kayak Guide
5. Corrosion Hour — Rust Submarine Guide
6. Rust Fandom Wiki — RHIB
7. Rust Fandom Wiki — Boats
8. Facepunch — Naval Update News
9. Facepunch — Going Deep (Underwater Labs)
10. Facepunch — Deep Sea Update (Tugboats)
11. Rustafied — The Rust Aquatic (Sharks/Subs)
12. Rustafied — Into the Abyss (Tugboat Mechanics)
13. RustClash Wiki — Tugboat
14. BisectHosting — Rust Submarine Guide
15. RustMods — Underwater Labs 2026 Guide

Want more detail? Monuments Guide · Wipe Day Playbook

Tugboat Sea Base — Advanced Build and Defence

A Tugboat is not just a boat, it is the only fully mobile base in Rust. Played correctly it is the safest home on the server, because raiders cannot dig a tunnel under it, cannot ladder it from a neighbouring base, and cannot find it twice. Played carelessly it is a 3,000 HP loot pinata.

Claiming and locking the right way

The instant you board an unclaimed Tugboat, run to the helm and authorise on the built-in Tool Cupboard. That single action gives you building privilege over the entire deck and hull. Then, in priority order:

1. Code-lock all three doorways — two on the bridge, one below deck. Use sheet metal doors, never wood. An unlocked doorway is an open invitation.
2. Drop a sleeping bag and a locker below deck before you do anything else, so a sink or an ambush does not cost you the spawn.
3. Wall the bridge railing with low external walls or half-height frames. This stops grappling-hook boarders and makes it far harder for a swimmer to climb aboard.
4. Add a second TC inside a sealed room is not possible — the Tugboat helm is the only privilege source, so protect the helm above all else.

What you can build below deck

The hull interior accepts most deployables: boxes, large boxes, lockers, sleeping bags, a furnace, a small refinery, a research table, and even a workbench. You cannot place foundations or upgrade the hull itself — you are decorating a fixed shell. The realistic Tugboat base loadout is a workbench tier 2, a few furnaces, a refinery for converting looted Crude into fuel, and enough boxes for a roaming kit. Treat it as a forward operating base, not a main.

Mobile-base doctrine

• Never anchor in the same spot twice. The whole advantage is unpredictability. Sleep in a different ocean quadrant each night.
• Park in deep ocean, far from shore. Shore-side raiders can rocket you from land for free. In deep water they must commit a boat and a crew, and the sharks become a free perimeter alarm.
• Kill your running lights at night. The Tugboat is visible from a long way off when lit. Run dark.
• Keep the fuel tank topped. A Tugboat caught empty during a raid cannot flee — and fleeing is its single best defence.

Decay and the offline problem

Tugboats decay slowly on open water and will eventually rot if abandoned, but the bigger offline risk is discovery. There is no way to make a Tugboat truly raid-proof while you sleep. The mitigation is concealment plus a respawn point: bag below deck, valuables off the boat or in the least obvious container, and the acceptance that a found Tugboat will be sunk. Many experienced players run the Tugboat as a roaming loadout-and-fuel station and keep their real stash in a hidden land base.

Torpedo Combat — The Numbers Behind Submarine Warfare

The submarine is a weapons platform, and torpedoes are its only gun. Knowing the exact math turns a 200-scrap toy into a serious tool.

Torpedoes are slow-moving projectiles. Against a stationary target — a parked Tugboat, a boat tied to a monument — they are reliable. Against a moving target you must aim well ahead of the bow. They also only travel underwater; you cannot torpedo something that sits high out of the water. The classic submarine raid is to surface just enough to see the waterline of the target, fire, dive, reposition, repeat. The Duo Sub's periscope passenger makes this dramatically easier because the driver never has to expose the hull to line up a shot.

Torpedo applications worth knowing: sinking an enemy Tugboat when you cannot get C4 to it; harassing the Cargo Ship from below the waterline while a boarding crew fights topside; and denying an enemy their Rowboat or RHIB during an Oil Rig contest.

Submarine Depth and Pressure — Diving Without Dying

Depth is the submarine's defence and its danger. The pressure model is precise and unforgiving:

Practical diving rules: keep cruising depth around 30-45m, which clears the seabed in most areas and stays clear of the pressure band. Watch the hull HP bar constantly when you push deeper. The submarine is also slower underwater than on the surface — for long transits, surface-cruise and only dive when you need to approach unseen or pass under a contested zone.

Oxygen is a separate clock from hull HP. The cockpit holds a finite air supply; the meter drains while submerged and refills when you surface. A sub that runs out of air starts drowning the driver even though the hull is fine. On long lab raids, surface periodically inside the moonpool to recharge both air and your situational awareness.

Boat Raid Economics — Cheapest Way to Sink a Target

When the target is a boat — usually a Tugboat — pick the cheapest tool that works:

The lesson: torpedoes are the budget Tugboat killer. If you own a sub, you never need to spend sulfur to sink a boat — you spend scrap on torpedoes, which solos and small teams generate easily. C4 is reserved for when you need the target down in seconds before the owner can flee or counter-board.

Deep-Water Navigation and Survival

• Hug nothing. The map edge has invisible kill boundaries and despawn zones — never park or sleep a boat right at the world border.
• Read the shark spawns. Sharks cluster around dive sites, lab exteriors, and deep treasure spots. A sudden shark means you are near something worth diving for — or near another player who is.
• Boats are shark-proof on the surface. Sharks only attack swimmers. If you are in the hull or on the deck you are safe; the moment you enter the water to reach a moonpool you are on the menu.
• Carry a speargun on any deep-water trip. It is a cheap, reliable shark answer and doubles as silent self-defence against another diver.
• Mind the fuel clock. Open ocean offers no refuel. Always carry double the Low Grade Fuel you think the round trip needs — a stranded boat in deep water is a dead boat.

The Naval Update (February 2026) — What Changed

The Naval Update went live on 5 February 2026 and is one of the largest content drops in Rust's history. It reworks the entire maritime layer of the game: you can now build your own boats plank by plank, fight boat-to-boat with mounted cannons, and sail off the edge of the map into a brand-new Deep Sea biome packed with Ghost Ships, AI patrol boats, tropical islands and a floating safe-zone city. Most of the new tech sits at Tier 1, so modular boats are surprisingly accessible from early wipe.

The single biggest change to existing play is that the Tugboat was removed. Player-built modular boats now fill the mobile-base and heavy-hauler role the Tugboat used to occupy. Facepunch has said the Tugboat "might come back later," but plan your sea game around modular boats for now.

At-a-glance: Naval Update additions

Modular Boat Building

Modular boats are the centerpiece of the Naval Update. Instead of buying a fixed-shape vessel, you assemble your own from snap-together parts on a floating grid. The whole system is cheap to enter and most of the tech is Tier 1, so a wipe-day solo can have a working boat within the first hour.

Getting started — the two items you need

• Boat Building Station — a deployable crafted at a Tier 1 workbench from 1 tarp + 200 wood. It must be placed in water to start a build.
• Boat Building Plan — the placement tool, crafted from 20 wood. You hold it to place boat-specific building blocks on the station's grid, much like the standard Building Plan works on land.

Each boat building block costs roughly 4 to 15 Low Grade Fuel plus wood to place, so keep a fuel stack on you while building. There is also a tool-cupboard-style upkeep system for boats — for now upkeep is paid in wood only.

Boat parts

The modular kit covers everything a vessel needs:

• Hulls and decks — the structural body and walking surfaces of the boat
• Engines — a small Tier 2 engine for thrust; add more for more speed
• Sails — alternative/supplementary propulsion; engines and sails can be reversed via radial menu for maneuvering
• Steering wheel (helm) — supports a code lock to prevent theft and access
• Anchors — hold the boat in place
• Cannons and cannonballs — naval weaponry (cannons mount only in dedicated cannon walls)
• Ladders, planks, ramps and a door frame — access and base-building style components

Size and height limits

To stop players from building floating skyscrapers, modular boats are capped. The maximum footprint is 10 long by 5 wide, and the height cap is 2 walls tall plus a third half-height wall. The build uses a weight-to-thrust system: bigger, heavier boats need more engines and sails to move at a decent speed, and a well-powered build can actually outrun the Cargo Ship. Larger boats can also smash straight through floating junk piles on contact.

Editing, locking and the "deploy and edit" rule

Boat builds are locked once the boat is placed in the water — there are no live edits while sailing. To change a finished boat you use the steering wheel's "deploy and edit" option, which requires a Boat Building Station in your inventory. One important restriction: "deploy and edit" is disabled inside the Deep Sea, so finish and fuel your boat before you sail off the map edge.

Damage and destructibility

Modular boats use a single shared global health pool rather than tile-by-tile damage, and that pool scales with the size of the boat. When the health bar hits zero the boat sinks and is gone permanently — there is no salvage and no recovery. This is a major mindset shift from the old Tugboat era: a player-built warship is a real, losable investment.

Naval Combat & Mounted Cannons

Naval combat is a core pillar of the update. Player-built boats are fully destructible, and boat-to-boat raiding is now a genuine playstyle. Boats also react physically to explosions — incoming blasts visibly jostle and shove a hull around, which can spoil an enemy's aim or push a boat off its line.

Weapons that hurt boats

• Mounted cannons — placed in cannon walls on your own boat; fire cannonballs at enemy vessels
• Rockets and HV rockets — effective against hulls and can be fired from a boat or shore
• Incendiary rounds — chip away at boats with sustained fire
• C4 and torpedoes — the classic heavy options still apply to destructible vessels

Cannon behavior

Cannons can only be placed in specialized cannon walls — you cannot stick one anywhere on the deck. Against another ship a single cannonball does relatively low damage (community testing suggests one hit removes only a small fraction of a boat's health pool), so sinking an enemy boat is a sustained-fire job, not a one-shot. Cannons travel with the boat, so you can take them all the way to Oil Rig and use them as offshore fire support.

The Deep Sea Biome

The Deep Sea is an entirely new ocean region that exists beyond the main island. You reach it by sailing toward the southern edge of the map in a capable boat — a player-built modular boat, an RHIB, or a captured PT Boat. You hit stormy seas, and a portal-style transition loads you into the Deep Sea zone.

How the reset timer works

The Deep Sea is built to be high-risk and intentionally unforgiving. When the event zone opens you have 2 hours (the default; servers can adjust it) to explore and loot, shown as a countdown on the player map. When the timer ends the zone resets completely: rough seas, radiation spikes, and a full loot refresh. Critically, when the timer expires all crewed vessels and items disappear, and any player still inside the zone dies. Get in, loot fast, and sail back out before the clock runs down.

No building, no respawning loot

There is no base building in the Deep Sea, and loot does not respawn within a cycle. Every crate, barrel and resource node is first come, first served — once it is looted it stays empty until the next zone reset. Remember too that "deploy and edit" for modular boats is disabled here, so any boat you bring must already be finished and fueled.

Tropical Islands

Scattered across the Deep Sea are tropical islands with white-sand beaches and palm trees. You can loot them but not build on them. They feature substation-styled and ruin-styled lootable POIs, a generous number of resource nodes for mid-sea farming, and — watch out — AI-controlled cannon emplacements that players can also hop onto and use. Islands are where the new coconut consumable comes from: it restores +2 health, +15 calories and +50 hydration, a handy quick boost while exploring.

Ghost Ships & PT Boats

Ghost Ships

Ghost Ships are stationary, AI-crewed loot ships scattered through the Deep Sea — think of them as floating monuments. There are five confirmed variants, each crewed by blue scientists and stocked with light-to-moderate loot, plus nearby scientist patrols that try to keep you off the ship. At any given time one Ghost Ship carries a lockbox below deck; starting the countdown on that lockbox also spawns 3–4 AI patrol RHIBs, so cracking it commits you to a fight. Ghost Ships are static once spawned, but Facepunch has hinted they may become more dynamic threats in future updates.

PT Boats

PT Boats are a new class of heavily armed AI patrol boat that actively roams the Deep Sea and engages players on sight. They are armed with a rear-mounted .50 cal turret and dual front-facing turrets, firing standard 5.56 ammo. Compared to an RHIB they are slower and burn more fuel, but are tougher and hit much harder, and they keep fighting even after the pilot is killed. Like every Naval Update vessel they are fully destructible and sink when defeated — but a cleared PT Boat can be stolen and crewed by players, making it a genuine prize.

Patrol RHIBs and the RHIB rework

The RHIB itself got a visual overhaul in the Naval Update — a higher-detail model, a headlight for night and storm navigation, and new compass and map display screens. In the Deep Sea, RHIBs are also used by patrolling scientists: the 3–4 patrol RHIBs triggered by a Ghost Ship lockbox are AI-crewed and carry limited loot.

The Floating City Monument

The Floating City is the Naval Update's flagship monument — a massive ocean hub built from abandoned barges and the framework of an unfinished oil rig. It is comparable in size and role to Outpost or Bandit Camp, and it is a full safe zone: PvP is disabled, so you can dock, trade and regroup without being shot. There are four variants that can spawn per server, and all offer the same facilities.

What you will find inside

• Docks to secure your boat while you shop
• Vendor area selling firearms, diving gear, boats, clothing, food and medical supplies — and buying fish for scrap
• Greenhouse — pay 150 scrap to enter a farm area and harvest crops such as pumpkins
• Recycler tucked underneath for convenient scrap runs
• Arcade / casino — an arcade/casino space with blackjack, poker, slot machines, pool, Chippy cabinets, boom boxes and instruments
• Rooftop with decorative towers and a parked Chinook

"Floating John" — the mission NPC

Each Floating City has a mission NPC nicknamed "Floating John." His marquee mission rewards you with a rocket launcher and 6 HV rockets for taking out 8 boat-bound scientists out at sea — a strong reason to head back into the deep and engage Ghost Ships or PT Boats.

Naval Update — Practical Sea Doctrine

The Naval Update rewards preparation more than any previous ocean content. A few rules that keep your boat and your loot afloat:

• Finish your boat before the Deep Sea. "Deploy and edit" is disabled in the zone — a half-built or under-powered boat cannot be fixed once you cross the edge.
• Code-lock the helm. The steering wheel takes a code lock; an unlocked modular boat is as easy to steal as a running RHIB.
• Respect the 2-hour clock. When the Deep Sea timer ends, everything inside is destroyed and every player there dies. Always leave with time to spare.
• Loot is finite in the deep. Nothing respawns mid-cycle — prioritize Ghost Ships and island POIs, do not waste time backtracking to emptied crates.
• Cannons need sustained fire. A single cannonball barely dents a hull. Bring plenty of cannonballs and expect a drawn-out exchange.
• Power for weight. Every cannon, deck and box you add slows the boat. Match engine and sail count to the build or you will be a slow target.
• PT Boats keep shooting after the pilot dies. Destroy the turrets or sink the hull — do not assume a downed pilot means a safe boat.
• Use the Floating City. It is a genuine safe zone with vendors, a recycler and missions — treat it as your forward base out at sea, since you cannot build in the Deep Sea.

Naval Update Sources

1. Facepunch — Naval Update (official news)
2. Rustafied — Naval Update Ho! (5 Feb 2026 patch notes)
3. Corrosion Hour — Player-Made Boat Building Guide
4. Corrosion Hour — Floating City Monument Guide
5. BisectHosting — Naval Update Patch Notes