Why your boat explodes
It is the most-reported problem in the game and it almost never happens for the reason people assume. Sorting every report by what the player was doing at the time leaves five distinct triggers. Tap a marker to jump to one.
- 1You put something down on the deckThe boat detonates, or launches into the air and lands upside down.
- 2You fired the harpoon, more than onceThe boat is flung at speed — sometimes upward, sometimes sideways into a wall.
- 3Someone slapped a crewmate who was standing on the boatThe slapped player falls through the deck or is thrown into the sky, and the boat can go with them.
- 4You walked into the engine roomThe boat is destroyed with nothing else happening.
- 5Nothing in particular — you came back and it was upside downThe hull ends up inverted and stays that way, sometimes sunk through the map entirely.
Last checked against the Steam threads and the Discord bug forum on
Three of the five groups above come from the developer. Asked for detail on the largest thread, they proposed the suspects themselves:
“Is it connected to the harpoon? Items on the floor? Character movement?”
The other two — walking into the engine room, and finding the boat capsized with no obvious trigger — are ours. They are grouped separately because the reports describe something different, not because anyone at the studio said so.
You put something down on the deck
The boat detonates, or launches into the air and lands upside down.
“The moment you place something on the boat (Dropped) The boat explodes after a short time.”
ReZenoX · Steam · Boat exploads out of nowhere
“Caught a fish, tried to place it on the deck and the ship catapulted into the air and then settled on its roof upside down.”
Variableman · Steam · Boat exploads out of nowhere
“we played 3 times, 2 times we tried to put stuff on the boat, and it exploded”
“The objects would not only roll around loosely but clip into things. This in multiple instanced detonated the entire ship before we even left port.”
a player reporting on fishing rods · Steam · The fishing rods are dangerous.
“i let a mushroom inside the round brown bowl and the ship disappear … and my friend start falling off the map”
1XLucusX1 · Discord · #bugs, Boat/Sailing, 25 August 2026 (no public link — server members only)
What the developer said
The developer named fishing rods specifically, changed them, and said item collisions were improved. Separately they announced Hotfix #5 as the fix for the whole thread.
“In a nearest update (today) we will change fishing rods and flocks. We also enhanced items' collisions.”
Players reported this again after the fix was announced.
Latest, 25 August
On 25 August the developer named the mechanism for the first time and called it solved for the release build: “items + boat physics + replication was a complete nightmare (for instance 1 kg item was able to throw 4 000 kg boat like it’s a feather etc.), but we fixed them completly and added a lot of storage for convinience”. A fresh report landed in the Discord bug forum the same day, still from the demo.
What you can do about it
In the demo, carry things rather than setting them down, and clear the deck before you get under way. The release build is supposed to make this moot: the developer says scrap now goes straight into the boat and there is real storage space.
You fired the harpoon, more than once
The boat is flung at speed — sometimes upward, sometimes sideways into a wall.
“Using the harpoon to pull the boat multiple times results in the boat being flung fast AF into space or if super unlucky flung to the side and immediately destroyed.”
the thread author · Steam · Harpoon is busted
“3rd time we went straight to the boat, started sailing, than one tried to shoot the harpon, and boom again.”
What the developer said
Acknowledged, with a request for video clips. The harpoon was reworked during the demo period — two pulling modes and extra mounting slots — and a separate turret fault was marked fixed.
“We'll look into that”
What you can do about it
Nobody has posted a tested workaround for this one. What the reports have in common is repeated pulls in quick succession, so spacing them out is the obvious thing to try — that is our inference from the reports, not advice anyone has confirmed.
Someone slapped a crewmate who was standing on the boat
The slapped player falls through the deck or is thrown into the sky, and the boat can go with them.
“Slapping a player on the boat can cause them to fall through the boat and fling into space or explode the boat.”
the thread author · Steam · Space boat bug
What the developer said
Reported, then confirmed fixed in an update the same period.
“It already got fixed in today's update”
You walked into the engine room
The boat is destroyed with nothing else happening.
“You just have to visit the engine room and the boat explode, the concept of the game is nice but there is tons of fixes who need to be done.”
the thread author · Steam · boat explode to fast
What the developer said
This one never got a specific answer. The developer asked for reproduction details and pointed at their Discord, and the thread ended there.
Nothing in particular — you came back and it was upside down
The hull ends up inverted and stays that way, sometimes sunk through the map entirely.
“boat blew up and flipped upside down… Boat is currently upside down in the harbor”
richardgobb3 · Discord · #bugs, Boat/Sailing, 20 August 2026 (no public link — server members only)
“Текстура корабля когда по лестнице взобралась медленно утонула, а меня выкинуло в воду. Он пропал под картой”
FireFox · Discord · #bugs, Boat/Sailing, 24 August 2026 (no public link — server members only)
What the developer said
No developer reply. These are the newest reports of the set — both from the week before release — and they sit in the Discord bug forum rather than on Steam, where the developer answers less often.
How the fix went, in order
Worth reading as a sequence rather than a verdict. This is one thread over two months, and it is the clearest picture anyone has of how the studio works.
First reply · developer
Asks whether it is the harpoon, items on the floor, or character movement.
Then · developer
“We're working on collisions and physics — it will get fixed by the nearest update.”
Hotfix #5 · developer
“[UPDATE] Hotfix #5 fixed all those issues.”
After that · player
Two more players post the same failure, one calling the game unplayable.
Later · developer
“We figured out what made this issue occur — FIXED.”
Release week · player
Capsizing and falling-through-the-map reports appear in the Discord bug forum.
Why loose items are the likeliest culprit
Three of the five triggers involve something physical touching the hull: an object set down on the deck, a harpoon yanking the boat, a player thrown into it. The developer’s own remedies point the same way — they changed fishing rods specifically, improved item collisions, and described a collisions and physics pass rather than a gameplay change.
On 25 August the developer put it plainly, and it lines up with the reports: item physics against boat physics, to the point where a 1 kg object could throw a 4,000 kg boat “like it’s a feather”. They pair that with the storage change, which would reduce how often loose items are on the deck at all. Whether it holds is a question for the release build. See what else changed for 1.0.
If it happens to you in the demo
Report it on the Steam board or the studio’s Discord with three details: who was hosting, what was on the deck, and what each player was doing. That is exactly what the developer asked for, and it is the difference between a report they can act on and one they cannot.
Quick answers
+Why does my boat explode in Water You Doing?
In the demo, the most common trigger by far is leaving items loose on the deck — players report the boat detonating or being catapulted upside down shortly after they set something down. Firing the harpoon repeatedly, slapping a crewmate on deck, and entering the engine room have each been reported too.
+Has the boat explosion bug been fixed?
The developer announced it fixed twice, once as Hotfix #5 and later with a note saying they had identified the cause, and on 25 August named the cause outright — item physics against boat physics, where a 1 kg object could throw a 4,000 kg boat. Players did post the same failure after the Hotfix #5 announcement. Everything since is a claim about a build nobody outside the studio has run.
+How do I stop the boat exploding in the demo?
Keep the deck clear and carry items rather than dropping them, let the boat settle between harpoon pulls instead of chaining them, and do not slap crewmates who are standing on the boat.
+My boat is upside down in the harbour. Can I fix it?
No fix has been posted. The capsizing reports are the newest of the set, from the week before release, and they sit in the Discord bug forum rather than on Steam.