Dreadmoor Boat Upgrades: Modules & Upkeep
How trawler upgrades work in Dreadmoor: the confirmed modular system, the Ship Upgrade Skill Tree, maintenance, and playtest cost leads.
Last updated: September 25, 2026
Your trawler is Dreadmoor's progression hub and your lifeline — the developers' sixth dev diary is titled "The Trawler as a Lifeline" for a reason: the boat "is directly linked to the player's survival," carrying you through swamps, away from danger, and home again with the catch. This page covers the confirmed upgrade system, what playtest footage showed about costs, and how to plan your first upgrades.
The confirmed upgrade system
The developer FAQ confirms a modular upgrade system: "Your trawler will feature a modular upgrade system allowing you to improve its capabilities and equipment." Official material names the parts players have seen so far:
- Hull Armour (Mk I) — armor for the hull; the "Mk I" naming implies a series
- Engine variants — multiple engines, changing speed and range
- Fish storage upgrade — how much a trip can bring home
- Roof-mounted lantern — support for night operation, and nights are dangerous
- Ship Upgrade Skill Tree — the progression track that ties ship improvements together
Official material also confirms ship maintenance: the trawler wears out, and hull armor exists for a reason. Expect repairs to compete with upgrades for your resources.
What playtest streams showed about costs
September 2026 playtest streams — recorded during the Open Playtest, so before final tuning — show the upgrade economy in action, and one resource keeps appearing: torn pages. The same collectible pages that unlock bait recipes in the fishing tree also buy ship-side upgrades:
- Streamers purchased hull protection for two torn pages, then went on to an upgraded engine — narrating "so, in here, using torn pages, we get unlocks" while browsing the ship upgrade screen.
- A separate PAX East report named a dry dock as the place where the boat gets made more seaworthy — suggesting physical upgrade locations rather than a pure menu.
Torn pages therefore appear to be a shared progression currency across fishing and ship systems — spending them on hull versus bait recipes is a real early-game decision. Treat the exact numbers as playtest-era: the developers reworked systems between every test, and the demo on October 6, 2026 is the first current build to verify against.
The torn-pages economy, in practice
The September playtest footage is the only real look at upgrade pricing, and it shows a specific transaction: hull protection for two torn pages, purchased while browsing the ship upgrade screen, with an upgraded engine queued next. The narration — "using torn pages, we get unlocks" — is the clearest evidence that ship upgrades are bought, not found.
What makes this interesting is that torn pages are the same currency the Fishing Skill Tree uses for bait recipes. One collectible funds two whole progression tracks: every page you spend on hull is a bait recipe you have not unlocked, and vice versa. That makes torn pages the scarcest early-game resource in the game — and makes your first spends a genuine strategy decision rather than a checklist.
The known transactions so far, all playtest-era:
| Purchase | Cost (torn pages) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hull protection | 2 | September Open Playtest footage |
| Upgraded engine | seen, cost unstated | September Open Playtest footage |
| Bait recipes (e.g. wound bait) | starting pages | PAX East build + playtest streams |
Treat the numbers as historical — the developers reworked systems between every test — but treat the structure (pages buy unlocks on both trees) as the current best understanding until the demo proves otherwise.
How upgrades change how you play
Official material connects the dots between upgrades and risk:
- The catch is the exception to safe storage — fish can be lost if your ship is destroyed, so hull and storage upgrades protect your actual income.
- Fuel matters — the official press release has you fueling up "for the journey ahead," and preview builds made refueling a manual, hands-on chore.
- Night and deep water are where upgrades pay off — the lantern, hull armor, and better engines exist to extend how far and how late you can safely push.
A sensible first-demo plan: storage and hull before speed, fuel efficiency before range, and the lantern as soon as night fishing becomes necessary.
Where upgrades come from
The acquisition path is not fully documented: salvage is confirmed as the material base (the press release: "salvage wreckage and scrap to upgrade the boat"), torn pages appear to gate the skill tree side, and blueprints are named in official store copy. Whether individual modules are bought, crafted, or quest-rewarded should become clear in the demo — see also crafting and the fishing guide for the other half of the economy.
Dreadmoor boat upgrades FAQ
What boat upgrades are confirmed in Dreadmoor?
Hull Armour (Mk I), multiple engine variants, a fish storage upgrade, and a roof-mounted lantern — plus the Ship Upgrade Skill Tree that ties them together. All are named in official material.
What are torn pages used for?
They are the shared currency of both progression trees: playtest footage shows pages buying hull protection and engine upgrades, and the same pages unlocking bait recipes on the Fishing Skill Tree.
Where do you upgrade the boat?
Playtest footage shows a ship upgrade screen for buying modules, and a PAX East preview separately described a dry dock as the physical upgrade location. How the two combine should become clear in the demo.
Does the boat take damage?
Yes — ship maintenance is a confirmed system, the official diary frames the trawler as your survival lifeline, and hull armour exists for a reason. Expect repairs to compete with upgrades for resources.
Is there a speed upgrade?
Engine variants are confirmed, but no stats — speed, range, fuel use — have been published. The safe assumption is that engine choice changes how far and how fast you can reach good fishing grounds.
What should I upgrade first in the demo?
The sensible opening order: fish storage and hull before speed, fuel efficiency before range, and the lantern as soon as night fishing becomes necessary. Storage protects your income; the lantern unlocks the most dangerous, most profitable hours.
Can the boat sink?
Nothing is documented about sinking mechanics specifically — but the developer FAQ is explicit that the catch can be lost if your ship is destroyed, and hull armour and maintenance exist as systems. The sea can take the whole boat in the worst case; how that plays out mechanically is a demo-day question.