I love the new changes to ship combat. That said one of the cores to sea of Thieves is the risk/reward of waiting to turn in your loot at an outpost.
In keeping with this idea I think it would be great if when shooting a damaged zone of your ship with a plank on it, instead of creating a new level 1 hole you break the plank reverting the damage level to what it was before it was repaired. You can go to an outpost and fully repair your ship to it's full health for free at the shipwright as long as your ship with within x meters of that outpost.
Example: Your ship has a level 3 hole on the mid deck but you repaired it with a plank. You then get shot at that same place in a later battle causing the hole to reopen that level 3 hole. You then go to an outpost and repair your ship at the shipwright removing all damage causing your ship to be good as new.
This would make ship combat more fun because you will be making progress sinking a ship even if they run for a little bit and repair all the holes.
