"That's what a ship is, you know.  It's not a keel and a hull and a deck and sails; that's what a ship needs.  But what a ship is . . . is freedom."
-Captain Jack Sparrow

Ever wanted to take advantage of Skyrim's rushing waterways, or explore its frozen shores? Ever stood on the edge of the Sea of Ghosts and felt the call of the waves?  Ever wanted to travel from port to port without swimming or walking?  Now you can! This mod adds several simple to use boats that let you venture forth into the ocean's embrace, like a true Nord!






This mod takes ElstarTomas's popular script-free boat mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67727) and expands it by added a few more boat types and locations, including actual sailboats.  The sailboats have "realistic" sails that raise and lower when the boat is being used.  All of the other functionality from the original mod is still preserved, and all of the original spells for Inventory, Boarding, etc. should apply flawlessly to all of the new boats.

This is a mod that I've wanted to do for years, but just never gave it a try until now.  It ended up being way easier than I thought it would be!  There are a number of boat mods out there, but none of them are as easy to use or natural-feeling at ElstarThomas's.  He manages to simplify the process just enough that it doesn't become tedious, while still achieving a realistic boat feel.  The biggest drawback is that the boat just steadily cruises along, which feels unnatural for something that you're rowing.

However, this motion works perfectly for a sailboat!  With that in mind, I took a few of DeviantKhaled's phenomenal boat models and used them as new boat options.  I kept the original mod completely intact, so that the original canoe will still function as intended.  The only major changes I made are the addition of a few other boat models, and the addition of a sailing mechanic.  This script is actually a copy of ElstarThomas's original mount/dismount script, but with an added line that switched the boat model between a furled and unfurled state.  This goes a long way to make it seem much more like you're actually sailing.  There are still some issues that need fixed, but for the most part it works surprisingly well!


-Six different small boats!

-Three different rowboats!

-Three sailboats, with real "working" sails!

-On-ship storage!

-Carry passengers!

-Summon a ship anywhere!

-Repair your ship when it's damaged!





-The SSE version includes the .esp plugins for both the expansion and the original mod.  You must make sure Script-Free Sailing is BEFORE Sailboats in your load order.

-The different ships are balanced differently between speed and strength: nordic ships are stronger and can carry more, but are much slower, while the elven sloop and canoe are much faster, but weaker and can carry less.

-Ships resist most magical damage, but are very susceptible to fire.

-All of the spells and functions of the original mod are preserved without changes, so everything should work perfectly for all the new boats.

-Because of the way the sail raising function works, you actually have to mount the boat twice.  This actually makes some immersive sense, since you are essentially activating the boat once to raise the sail, then activating it again to actually sit down and steer.  I'm trying to streamline the scripts so this feels a little more natural, but I don't mind having the extra step.

-The only real way to make the sail function work was to make two completely separate races for the furled and unfurled boat, and then to switch between the races via script.  I'm not 100% sure what the system implications of that are, but so far I haven't seen any issues.  (Other than it forcing you to dismount when the race changes, hence the issue above.)  I don't think it will hurt game memory at all.



-Boats will run over land.  This is a product of the original mod.  I'm not sure there is any real way to force an NPC to only ever swim, especially when you're riding it (for example, even while riding a slaughterfish you can force it onto land no problem.)  You'll have to do a bit of role-playing and keep your boat in the water.

-Water clips through the boat, so sometimes it looks like you're full of water.  I've tried to position the meshes to hide most of this, but it can still happen.

-The boats are essentially rigged to a mountable cow with modified behaviors and skeletons to make them silent and motionless when not being ridden.  However, sometimes this trips up and the boat will start moving on its own, either running away or fighting enemies.  I'm trying to mitigate this, but it was an issue with the original mod too.

-All of the new boats still use the collisions of the original canoe.  This means there is a little bit of mismatch, especially with the longer Maormer Sloop.  This just means when you're standing on the deck, you might look like you're hovering above the deck.  There's not much I can do without re-making custom collision meshes for each boat, and that is far beyond my ability or level of commitment.

-The sails and masts have no collision (see above.)  That means they will clip through overhead bridges, logs, etc.  It would be a nightmare trying to use the sailboats otherwise.

-Every once in awhile, your boat might lose control after the sail lowers and start whipping around on its own.  I think this is a problem with the races switching and not loading the behavior graphs.  This is however very much a thing that can happen in a real sailboat, so it feels kind of natural.

-Be careful not to fall of your boat!  The collision of the deck is fairly small, so it can be easy to slide off.  Again, immersion!

-Every once in a while, the boat will just straight up disappear after the sails switch.  I have no idea why this happens.  As you can conjure a new boat using spells, it's not a huge deal, but be careful putting anything valuable in the boat's inventory because you might lose it.  I'm pretty sure this is only an issue with the sailboats.

-If you are having any issues with the functionality of spells or follower boarding, please refer to the original mod page, as I haven't changed those systems.



-More boats!  I'm always looking for cool boat models to use.

-Bigger boats!  I'd love to do full size longboats and ships, but that would require a whole new reworking of collisions and skeletons and behaviors.

-Cannons!  I'd love to have some sort of battle functionality.

-Raise and lower sails at will!  I'd love to add the functionality of lowering the sails and paddling the boat slowly, just for immersion.

-Automatic sailing!  I'd like to force the boat to move when the sails are up, as that's kind of how sailboats work.

-Make boats superrrrrrrr slow on land!  I might not be able to force boats to only work in the water, but if I can figure out how to make them super slow when on the land, that could simulate "dragging" the boat and make it a little more immersive.



Script Free Ship Sailing - ElstarTomas - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67727
This is now included as a separate file; you must download and install both.

Realistic Functional Boats - flexcreator - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56410/?
This is a different take on boats that uses scripts to simulate actual rowing.  This would compliment my mod quite well, with rowboats acting like actual rowboats while sailboats cruised around smoothly.  Obviously a bit more script-heavy.

Sailable Ships of Skyrim - SuLpHidE - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37902/
This uses a lot of scripts and key-bindings to allow you to sail full-size ships, carry passengers, even go inside the ships!  I haven't tried this one, but it looks great!

Depths of Skyrim - theblackpixel - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/98331?tab=posts
Adds a ton of content to the ocean areas, making them worth exploring.

Sea of Spirits - SpikeDragonLord - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/79475
Adds a ton of creatures to the seas.

Blue Whales & Sperm Whales - Skinwalker21 - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/99959 & https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/99947/
Adds huge whales in the deepest parts of the sea.

Here There Be Monsters - Araanim - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32411
Not to toot my own horn, but there's obviously a very specific reason why I wanted to create sailboats.

Also, check out MihailMods for a whole menagerie of terrifying sea creatures.



Script Free Ship Sailing - ElstarTomas - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67727

DK's Lore-Friendly Ships and Boats Resources Vol. 1 -DeviantKaled - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/75965

DK's Lore-Friendly Ships and Boats Resources Vol. 2 -DeviantKaled - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77174



Want to show your support?
View my Patreon, or follow me on Facebook!
Or, buy me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

Any questions, feel free to contact me on Discord.