Originally posted by Itharus:

It occurs to me that if more nastier monsters are added to the sea biome, then returning by sea to your main base with your ore will become impossible as a solo player, as you cannot sail the boat and fight the monsters at the same time. If your boat cannot move, it's a sitting duck and gets destroyed.

If you leave the rudder while the boat is in motion, it will stay in motion as long as you do not exit the boat. You can totally stop directing the boat in order to fire some arrows at a bad guy.

We may (probably) also see an expansion of boats when the ocean biome is expanded. I doubt we’ll see much in the way of NPC’s beyond the Trader though. This is supposed to be a pretty isolated and little known realm after all.