I had an idea that I wanted to run by the forums; make the harpoon rowboat a selectable ship type (like Galleon, Brig, or Sloop) for single players, in that they spawn on it whenever they die or use a mermaid. Like all other ship types, you would get a new one if you use a mermaid after your current one sinks.
There would be some major disadvantages to choosing a rowboat compared to other ships; can't repair it, no cannons, no map table, slow travel speed, and limited storage space (although you'd really only need to store food and throwables).
However, rowboats have two big advantages compared to standard ships; they are stealthy, and they can dock with standard ships.
Let's talk about stealth first. So many players come to the forums to complain about PVP and lack of private servers. Most of the people who make these complaints really just want to sail the sea of thieves without being attacked by other players. Rowboats may be slow and unarmed, but they are very difficult to spot at a distance, which would make them appealing to players who simply wish to be left alone.
The other advantage, being able to attach to other ships, opens up a lot of options. Just like with regular rowboats, you could use yours to quietly steal from another ship or bring a keg (or two) to sink them. You could ally with another crew and then attach your rowboat to their vessel, effectively giving them a +1 crew. Normally, when allies all sail on a single vessel, the ship slowly looses allied crew to attrition as they get killed off and respawn elsewhere. Now, the allied player can spawn on the docked rowboat. One extra player would offer a nice advantage to the bigger ship's crew, but it wouldn't be as overpowered as teaming up with another "real" ship.
What do you think? I don't seriously think Rare will do this (they'd need to add a way to check the map, join alliances, and propose voyages from a rowboat before this becomes feasible), but it's still fun to speculate.
