How to Fish Boat Upgrades: Engine Tiers, I Am Speed & Flying Boat

Updated 2026-08-26

How boat engine upgrades work in How to Fish: the Getting an upgrade and I am speed achievements, the best engine, and how players make the boat fly for I'm the bird now.

Open water off the island shoreline in How to Fish
Official How to Fish screenshot from the Steam store, showing the sea route between islands.

Quick answer: three achievements ride on your boat

The Steam achievement list ties three unlocks to your boat. Getting an upgrade fires when you upgrade the boat's engine for the first time. I am speed requires buying the best engine tier. I'm the bird now asks you to make the boat fly — which the achievement descriptions and community testing both link to having the best engine first. Engine upgrades sit on the boat vendor's upgrade track; the first one is cheap enough to be an early-game milestone, while the top tier is a deliberate late-game purchase.

Engine upgrades: what they actually buy you

Beyond achievements, the engine is a time purchase: faster sailing shortens every inter-island run, and the game's progression is a chain of island hops gated by boss trophies. Community route advice treats mid-tier engine upgrades as optional during the story — sailing is safe, just slower — and the top engine as a post-story or cleanup-phase buy, when you are re-running islands for collection and achievements. If money is tight, weapons that win boss fights advance you further than speed does; if money is comfortable, the engine pays for itself in saved minutes across the remaining checklist.

Getting an upgrade and I am speed

Both achievements are straightforward purchases: Getting an upgrade unlocks on your first engine upgrade, and I am speed unlocks when you buy the best engine. There is no trick to either — the only real decision is timing. If you are routing achievements efficiently, let Getting an upgrade happen naturally early, and leave I am speed for the cleanup pass when the economy is solved. Neither requires a special condition, co-op partner, or specific island.

I'm the bird now: making the boat fly

This is the physics-stunt achievement, and it never happens in normal sailing. Community-tested methods reported across guides: with the best engine installed, launch the boat off waves at full speed; alternatively, wedge the hull against an uneven shoreline and keep the throttle on until the physics launches it; in co-op, one partner can punch the bow while another drives. The boat only needs to be clearly airborne for the achievement to register — style and altitude do not matter. Do this with an expendable save state mindset: do not attempt stunts while carrying an unhanded boss trophy, because physics experiments are exactly how loose items end up in the sea.

Do not forget the radar side of the helm

Boat quality-of-life is not only the engine. The handheld radar is a $10 Lighthouse purchase that many players miss, and walkthroughs describe a later radar upgrade that mounts it on the boat so you no longer need to equip it while sailing. New island coordinates come from NPC quest hand-ins, not from sailing around blindly — if your radar shows no new marker after a boss kill, the fix is usually an undelivered trophy, not more engine. Our missing radar guide covers that diagnostic order.

How to apply this guide safely

Begin with “Quick answer: three achievements ride on your boat” and compare it with the objective, inventory, and controls shown by your installed build. Do not change several variables at once. If the guide concerns progression, complete one dialogue or hand-in and confirm the objective changed before sailing away. If it concerns combat, test the control or equipment choice on an ordinary encounter before spending a boss trigger. If it concerns troubleshooting, preserve the save and start with reversible checks such as restarting the session and verifying files.

Keep a short run record with the game version, solo or co-op state, host identity, starting objective, relevant equipment, steps taken, and outcome. Physics, network state, and retail patches can make two attempts look different even when both players describe them honestly. A controlled record lets you identify which condition changed. It also gives the developer a useful reproduction if the result points to a defect rather than a missed quest step.

Evidence and version check

This article uses Destructoid — All achievements in How to Fish and how to complete them, howtofish.buzz — All 28 How to Fish Achievements (boat fly method), AllThings.How — How to Fish: Full Island and Boss Progression Walkthrough. Official store text and developer announcements establish supported features and broad progression. Steam achievement wording establishes that a named action exists, but it does not prove an exact coordinate, probability, price, damage value, or hidden timer. Community discussions can reveal a repeated problem and possible workaround, but one reply is not treated as a universal mechanic. Where evidence stops, the guide uses cautious testing steps instead of inventing a precise answer.

Before relying on an older route, check the Steam news and discussion dates against the updated date at the top of this page. Prefer the current in-game objective when it conflicts with a video or forum post. Avoid unknown executables, replacement saves, cheats, or destructive file edits offered as shortcuts. A legitimate workaround should be explainable, reversible, and testable without surrendering account credentials or deleting the only known-good save.

Completion check

Finish with “Do not forget the radar side of the helm,” then verify the result in the system that matters: quest log for progression, inventory for items, Steam for achievements, or a repeatable symptom check for a technical fix. Do not treat a visual animation alone as proof that the save registered the event. Wait for a normal transition and inspect the state before selling items, changing hosts, or starting another objective. If the result differs from this page, send the URL, build number, exact steps, and observed result through the contact page; that evidence is how we correct guides without turning uncertain reports into false facts.

Sources & Evidence

Claims are backed by the following sources. Unknowns are marked explicitly.

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