Did ship prices just recently double?  Maybe with the last patch?  Or did I do something in-game to piss off the merchants of Neketaka?  I went over to get my big, scary new ship...and it's now 108k.

About half way through “Other Changes”

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103128-patch-notes-for-1200017/page-1

I'm not necessarily against this change, but in my first game I went straight to the galleon and by the time I could buy other ships I was already at least on level 13-14 and I had cleared most of the ships on the map. I imagine that now some people might not even bother buying them.

My favorite ship setup is:

 

Dhow

3x double bronzer one side

1 haefric nose 2x royal bronzer other side or haefric+2x iron thunderer

 

red dream hull

dragonweave sails

living steel anchor (from scalowags pack)

 

gives like 110 hull health, 55 sail health 75 meter combat speed and a 2 turn jibe for the cannons - what more do you need?

Thanks, Achilles!  Guess I will spend my money on something other than boats, heh heh.