Semi-cheat to speed up your ships

[Comar]

Yeah, you see this also later on with planet and warp building techs. It is kind of a cheat, but right now there isn't anything stopping it. BTW, this works on boarding parties also.

Another way of doing the same thing is build a fleet and have a dedicated repair ship as part of the fleet. That way your war vessels don't have space taken up with repair bays.