RHIB Rust: Cost, Fuel, Seats & How to Get One

The RHIB is the biggest, meanest boat you can buy in Rust. Where the little Motor Rowboat is a two-scrap runabout for hopping down the coast, the RHIB is the crew wagon: six seats, 500 health, a huge storage box and an engine with two and a half times the thrust. It is the boat you buy when you are moving a squad, hauling loot off the Oil Rig, or turning the open water into a firing platform.

This guide covers everything a RHIB in Rust actually costs and does: the exact scrap price and where to buy it, how much Low Grade Fuel it burns, how many people it seats, how much it can carry, how it stacks up against the rowboat, how fast it decays if you leave it in the water, and the small mistakes that lose new players their first one. Every number here is datamined from the game and cross-checked against Corrosion Hour, Rustly and the Facepunch update notes.

• What Is the RHIB
• RHIB Stats
• How Much It Costs
• Seats & Firing Platform
• How to Drive It
• Fuel
• RHIB vs Rowboat
• Decay & Storage
• What It Is For
• Pro Tips
• FAQ

What Is the RHIB in Rust?

The RHIB is Rust’s large motorised boat, the rowboat’s bigger, angrier sibling. Facepunch’s own Vehicle Update introduced player-driven boats to the game and described the RHIB as exactly that: six seats, 500 health, more storage, and an engine with two and a half times the thrust of the rowboat. It is built for carrying a group and their loot across open water at speed.

RHIB stands for Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (sometimes written Rigid Inflatable Boat, or RIB). It is a real-world military and coast-guard design: a solid hull for stability and speed, wrapped in an inflatable collar so it stays buoyant and shrugs off knocks. Rust’s version is the grey, center-console military model you have seen patrolling around the Oil Rig, and it is the one you buy at the coast.

Since the Boat Vendor update, boats no longer spawn for free along the shoreline. You buy the RHIB with scrap from a vendor, which makes it a mid-game purchase rather than a lucky beach find. It sits in the same tier of the game as the minicopter: a proper vehicle that changes how you move around the map, costs real resources, and needs fuel and shelter to keep.

RHIB Rust Stats

The headline numbers are simple: the RHIB trades scrap and fuel for capacity and speed. At 500 health it is not a combat vehicle in the sense of soaking rockets, but it is tanky enough that a stray shot or a rock will not sink it, and metal fragments patch it up fast. Everything about it is tuned for moving people and cargo, which is where the six seats and the 36-slot box come in.

How Much Is a RHIB in Rust?

A RHIB costs a base of about 300 scrap from the Boat Vendor. That vendor lives at the Fishing Village, the coastal safe-zone monument, and it is the only place you can buy one. Because Rust runs a dynamic vendor pricing system, the exact number on the shelf swings with supply and demand on your server, so treat 300 as the baseline rather than a fixed tag. On a busy server after a fresh wipe you may see it drift higher.

1. Farm or loot around 300 scrap. Barrels, roadside crates, recyclers and the Bandit Camp wheel all get you there.
2. Travel to a Fishing Village on the coast. Larger villages reliably stock the RHIB; the smallest ones sometimes only sell a kayak and paddle.
3. Talk to the Boat Vendor and buy the RHIB. It spawns in the water at the dock.
4. Have Low Grade Fuel on you before you buy. The boat comes with only 50, barely enough to leave the dock.

Seats and the Firing Platform

The RHIB seats six players, and the layout is what makes it a squad boat. There is one skipper seat at the stern who steers and controls the throttle, one bow seat up at the nose, and four center passenger seats flanking the driver. That is a full six-person crew moving together, which no other bought boat can do.

The important detail: only the skipper can open the fuel tank, which sits in front of the driver’s seat. Everyone else is a passenger who can keep their weapons out and fire while the boat moves. That turns a loaded RHIB into a mobile firing line, ideal for pulling up on a waterside base or peppering the scientists on the Oil Rig before you dock. Keep a trusted driver in the skipper seat so nobody strands the crew by burning the tank dry mid-run.

How to Drive the RHIB

Driving a RHIB is simple once you are in the skipper’s seat. Look at the stern of the boat and press E to take the wheel, then it handles like every other Rust boat.

• W / S throttle forward and reverse. Hold W to build up speed; the RHIB is slow to start but fast once it is moving.
• A / D steer left and right. Turns are wide, so give yourself room around rocks and shallows.
• Mouse to look around while you drive, useful for spotting threats on a coastal approach.
• Passengers press E on a seat to hop in, and keep their weapons out to fire on the move.

Two things trip up new drivers. First, the RHIB runs aground in shallow water, so keep to deeper channels and do not try to beach it at full speed. Second, it has real momentum: ease off the throttle well before a dock or you will ram it. Because only the skipper reaches the fuel tank, a smart crew keeps one reliable driver on the wheel for the whole trip.

RHIB Fuel: How Much Low Grade It Burns

The RHIB runs on Low Grade Fuel and nothing else. It will not take diesel, which is only for things like the quarries and the excavator. You load fuel into the tank at the skipper’s seat, and the boat chews through it steadily while the engine is running.

The practical takeaway is that the RHIB is thirstier than the rowboat, so plan your fuel. A full stack of 500 Low Grade Fuel gives you roughly half an hour of engine time, which is plenty for a raid run or an Oil Rig trip with margin to spare. You make Low Grade Fuel from animal fat and cloth, or by refining crude oil in a small oil refinery, so a bit of farming keeps the tank topped without ever touching the vendor.

RHIB vs Rowboat: Which Boat Should You Buy?

The two engine boats at the Fishing Village solve different problems. The Motor Rowboat is the cheap solo runabout; the RHIB is the crew-and-cargo boat. Here is the head-to-head.

If you are a solo player crossing the bay to hit a monument, the rowboat at 125 scrap is the smarter, cheaper buy and it sips less fuel. The moment you are moving a team, carrying a raid’s worth of explosives, or want the speed and the firing seats, the RHIB earns its extra scrap. Think of the rowboat as a scooter and the RHIB as a van: you buy the one that fits the job.

RHIB Decay and Storage

A RHIB is not a fire-and-forget purchase. Like every vehicle in Rust it decays, and where you leave it decides how long it lasts. Left floating on open water it rots surprisingly fast; tucked under a roof it lasts indefinitely.

The shelter rule is the same one that keeps a minicopter alive: any roof or floor tile overhead counts as “inside” and stops decay, no walls required. A cheap two-by-two with a roof over the water is all it takes to protect a 300-scrap boat, and it is well worth the wood.

What Is the RHIB For?

The RHIB shines any time water is faster than land. Its three big jobs are moving a crew, hauling cargo and coastal aggression.

• Oil Rig runs. The RHIB carries a full team plus their loot to and from the Small and Large Oil Rig, and the passenger seats let you fire on the heavy scientists as you approach.
• Coastal raids. Pull up on a waterside base with explosives in the storage box and a crew ready to breach. Check the raid cost calculator to see exactly what to pack.
• Moving a group. Six seats means the whole team travels together instead of splitting across two rowboats, and the 36-slot box carries the shared gear.
• Deep-water travel. With the Naval Update opening up the deep sea, a fast, tanky boat is the ticket to reaching the far-out content without swimming.

It is not the boat for a quiet solo fishing trip, that is what the rowboat and kayak are for, but for anything involving a crew, cargo or combat on the water, nothing you can buy beats it.

RHIB Rust Pro Tips

A few habits will save you scrap, fuel and a very long swim home.

• Bring fuel, buy the hull. The vendor gives you 50 low grade, about three minutes. Carry a full stack before you spend 300 scrap.
• Only the skipper fuels it. The stern seat steers and holds the tank. Keep a trusted driver there so nobody drifts the crew dry mid-raid.
• Use the passenger seats. Every seat but the skipper can shoot. A full RHIB is a floating firing line for coastal bases and the Oil Rig.
• Roof it or lose it. On open water a RHIB decays in about two hours. A cheap roofed boat garage on the shore stops decay completely.
• It is not your boat in a safe zone. The Fishing Village stops players shooting you, not your boat drifting off. Do not log off with it on the dock.
• Repair with metal fragments. Chip the hull on rocks or take fire? A hammer and metal fragments patch a RHIB back toward its 500 HP.

RHIB Rust FAQ

Sources

• Corrosion Hour: RUST RHIB Guide for the seat layout, 500 HP, 36-slot storage, fuel on spawn, decay times and repair material.
• Rustly: RHIB stats for the datamined 500 HP, 6 seats and 0.25 fuel-per-second burn rate.
• Facepunch: Vehicle Update for the RHIB’s six seats, 500 health and two-and-a-half-times-the-rowboat thrust.
• Facepunch: Boat Vendor update for the Boat Vendor, Fishing Village purchase and the removal of free coastal boats.
• Facepunch: Naval Update for deep-sea travel and where RHIBs patrol.