So in my little lore universe (that breaks GW canon). Some Lizardmen have started working on making their own sailing ships. I like the idea of them nicknaming ships "wooden sea turtles" because sometimes in the past they have ridden actual giant sea turtles. I have an article with my interpretation of how Lizardmen might go about learning to sail. It is not the only way it can happen. I'd be interested in reading other people's ideas. I'm also open to suggestions on what a Lizardmen constructed sailing ship would look like. I think they would not bother with adornments or decorations but perhaps the Rule of Cool says otherwise.
Depends on the why. If its purely transport, I can picture them using sea-based dinos and just building a basic structure on the backs of these noble beasts. But if we're going for straight up sailing craft... Is it weird that I can sort of see them going for the Sengoku period Japanese school of shipbuilding, more like floating forts than something that should be traversing the sea. And because sometimes lizardmen just defy the logic that the warmbloods have to work with, affix some sails to these floating forts, and they work just as well as anything Marienburg has to their name. I can also picture them just ignoring logic entirely and building a fully working and capable of sailing ship made of stone. Or strengthened obsidian for extra flex. In my own work, the lizardmen of Madrigal have crafted at least one sailing ship, and at a glance it looks like they've copied the style and craft of Empire/Bretonnian/Age of Sail ships. But a closer look shows that the wood planks have just covered a base layer of stone, though above the waterline the artisans tasked with crafting the ship either stopped bothering or just didn't understand that for warmbloods wood is the only thing you make a ship out of, and was instead covered with volcano glass with intricate patterns. (Not bringing up Dawi ironclads, that's a whole other ballgame) Though it is important to note that my lizards are trying to present themselves to the warmbloods as "civilised" by the warmblood standards, so there was a reason for the ship trying to at least mimic Age of Sail ship design that isn't just marking it as another point where the Madrigalians are looking very British Empire. I was/am going to write that the more traditional kin, if they feel the need for naval capacity, go with the riding large tsunamisaurs with platforms built on their back in lieu of building ships. (sorry for what might very well have been an unnecessary tooting of my own horn there.) Excuse me while I go read your article... and no doubt weep when I realise that I've said things that have already been talked of.
I agree on using large nautical creatures. I can see them with howdahs similar to stegadons. Also, I can clearly see some kimd of lizardmen splinter cell that was stranded without priests and slanns and had to develop workaround like this. Even using smaller nautical dinos strapped to small boat making kind of speedboat for relaying important messages.