Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

... If it is within rendering distance while you are playing creatures can spawn near enough to attack it without you knowing that they are doing so.

Like, right in the 'harbor', or just outside the walls?

Rendering distance is the distance from you that the game program is active (64 tiles). Nothing happens outside rendering distance but you can't see all the way out to maximum rendering distance either. That means that things can spawn outside your visual radius (unless you have a large enough workbench/base structure radius) and still affect things inside rendering distance.

Originally posted by Emelio Lizardo:

I took the walls out into the water as far as it would let me. My solution so far is simply to disassemble the boat when not in use.

The earthen walls are indestructible your boat isn't. Building your pier out of earthen walls instead of wood may be your problem. Wave motion inside rendering distance that causes your boat to brush against your earthen walls can destroy the boat slowly over time as can boulders under the water. Dismantling the boat after sailing is all most always the best option.