Had been fishing, logged off on my boat with the anchor down. Logged back in a few days later and I'm on the Skara pier, boat not in backpack or anything. Do boats collapse at a much faster rate than houses? That's really the only thing I can think of but I feel it was only maybe 4 or 5 days since I was fishing. Any idea? Bummer if I lost all my fishing goodies.
If you can't recall off the key then the boat likely collapsed. The only other option is that someone got your key and stole your boat. In either case, your boat is gone.
When I was doing MIBs I had about 20 boats spread around the map, to make life easier. All 20 of those suckers sank out of neglect.
Boats only refresh when using the key on the gankplank, IIRC. Standing on the boat and issuing commands does not refresh your boat.