Excellent game! I had so much fun with it. The cannon ball speeds and arcs were just right to get that arcade-y feel. I loved the enemies crashing into each other too, that was hilarious.
I'd love a bit more camera freedom when locked in to the helm and repair stuff, but I appreciate that that's a tradeoff I need to make as a player. Maybe a minigame suits the repairing? Even something as simple as "look at the mast" but allow complete camera control. That way, the player still has control of the camera but they are still forced to look down if they want to actually get more HP, keeping that awareness trade you've got in the current game.