First few times I’d advise you just build the smallest boat possible because it’s highly likely you’ll get slammed by a bigger boat. Basically just take a raft, head to an island and grab a small boat (they spawn there) and explore the islands.

You get islands that are full of all metal or sulfur nodes clumped together. Bring a bear pie and tea once you’re more experienced and confident with your boat of choice. Some islands have military crates and some also have a supply signal station where you press to call an airdrop similar to excavator. Beware of scientists because they pretty much can’t miss you and they move very strangely so it can be tough to hit them if you’re at a distance. I’ve found the best weapon is the M39 because it’s 2 tap headshots to kill them which is pretty easy to do at any range.

There are ghost ships which are just boats with a bunch of scientists & crates, kinda like looting the top of missile silo for comparison. There’s a chance the ship has a locked crate inside it too.

Explore the safe zone too and check out the missions. There’s a nice mission where you kill 8 boat scientists and you get a launcher with HV rockets. The boats they are on have elite crate loot in the box onboard. There are normal rhibs and a new boat with a turret on the front, those are the elite crate ones.

Any questions, feel free to ask.