Originally posted by DarthTanyon:

I don't know what this guys is talking about but Deathsqutos have a very large aggro range. I would NOT advise this approach if you are not ready yet.

Deathsquitos have a 30 tile visual range (in their front 90 degrees) with a 20 tile alert range. If they see you they will slowly approach until they alert. The problem being that the boat can't sneak.

You can drop sail to paddling speed (to get the sail out of your way) and fire your bow over the gunwale. If you miss you can switch to buckler and a short range weapon like a knife. parry block, and kill it without damaging your boat too much.

Originally posted by sarteck:

Originally posted by DarthTanyon:

If you are in a Krave or longboat you can coast on lowest speed and outrun the leeches. I think this is more or less about IF you decided to stop and investigate or disembark. I've definitely lost a boat or two to leeches while not in it.. I mean that was early on.. now I play a lot smarter. Usually I only land from water as a last resort.

Hmm, still pretty sure this isn't the case.

I just went (on vanilla) and dug a small pond, spawned a Karve, then spawned 20 leeches. None of them attacked the ship.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2966525086

They will attack it if you are in it or were in it and got out. Jumping fish can also damage your boat if the boat is above the fish when it jumps though they don't specifically attack the boat.