They were also the most appallingly terrible pieces of blender trash seen this side of the torsos in Morrowind.

Not all of Skyrim is frozen. There is actually a temperate forest in a large section of the province - specifically, the Reach.

As far as I can understand the overall climate is Similar to Norway. Covered in Fjords and with a varying topography that allows for different weather events and as such different conditions. Similar to Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

It would be cool to see some actual ships in Skyrim to cross a huge lake ... with some real dynamic-cloth enabled Sails and huge masts and huge ballistae with lead stones and some huge crossbows whose arrowheads alone were as long as your leg. Then take to the open sea, and have an actual job to perform on the ship while other NPC's went about their own business.

Don't perform your job, you go to the ship prison which is a cell only as big as a bed with no room to move filled with rats and vermin. Soon you're begging to be let out to resume your work, happy to do your work....

And if the ship should meet a Pirate vessel, well then you have to go out and man the the ballistaes, firing huge arrows and lead balls accurately to strike the neighboring ship. And if you know magic, you can help to protect the ship using magic shields, or you can cast your protection from fire/ice/lightning spells at certain locations on the ship to act as investments against fire attacks or spell-based attacks.

And through all of this, you have to contend with the topsy-turvy view moving up and down due to the rendering engine accurately modeling sea waves (huge, massive sea waves and sea walls) forming which cause your ship to rise toward the sky and fall toward the sea floor over and over again, making combat an ultra insane and mind-numbing sensation.

Okay, okay, I know these can't be in Skyrim, but why not TES - 6 ! ???? Start planning now!

Anybody remember Bethesda's take on Pirates of the Caribbean from a few years back?
I bet they still know how to make boats

i would like to see boats as well. then i could be chased by enemies, then jump onto the boat as my friends are pushing it into the river, I barely make it onto the boat and as me and my companions float down the river, the enemies can only watch...just like the Fellowship of the Ring

that was a good one!

i want to have my houseboat... maybe as a possibility for fast travel so it is always in the harbour and i don't need to buy houses everywhere just for storage...

Had a mod with a ship you could control, downside was that it was to few places to sail it. bridges and places with little water blocked it.

Uses a canoe now, much better as it can pass obstacles easy and you can pick it up and take it with you. However you can not use it as a mobile base as you could with the ship.

Just a boat moving up and down the river would be cool, one fun use would be to stand on it and cast spells on monsters on land, this will piss them off so they follow the boat along the river.

I want to see, like Zaria said, cool boats... boats that can move and are functional. And when we use them to travel I want there to be seats for multiple people, and I want the game to throw some travelers into the mix when I travel, so when I arrive, I'm not the only sole traveler climbing off the boat. Maybe to save on all the animations required, when I buy a ticket, the screen fades and myself and many travelers are already seated. The boat takes off ... etc ... and fades. ... and when the screen fades back at the destination, everyone's already standing on the dock, or the shore, beside their boat. This kind of Fast Travel would be a lot simpler, but still a lot more interesting.

But more than that, why not have FT be interrupted along the way, in our boats, from enemies in their own boats, who you can plunk arrows into? Now you have a reason to own a bow and arrow beyond being a hunter ... if you travel by boat, maybe it's the only way to protect yourself well. Or by spells, of course. If you do enough damage to their boat, they crash, or sink.... otherwise, your boat sinks... No FT for you now! Where you get interrupted is where you are finished FT'ing.

I'd love to see a Viking Ship rising an falling with the sea waves, crashing along wave after wave, and hear the guys chanting Skyrim Theme Song style as they rowed oars. If only once, if only once in a while... just to give a change of pace from having to walk everywhere.

Good idea, Zaria!

I always thought it would be sweet to have your own boat.
Especially if you could sail or row it yourself.

I like what Skystorm77 said!

Hire yourself out as a deck hand or something. Maybe a mercenary job, just to be an onboard soldier or something.
Boats are kewl.