How to Make a Boat in Minecraft, Plus Chest Boats and Rafts
Five planks of one wood in a U shape make a boat. How to make a boat in Minecraft, plus chest boats, bamboo rafts, moving villagers and boat speed on ice.
Place 5 planks of the same wood type in a U shape: all three slots of the bottom row, plus the left and right slots of the middle row. That gives you one boat in that wood’s color. The recipe is the same in Java and Bedrock; Bedrock’s old wooden shovel requirement was removed in 2023.
Which wood works
Any Overworld wood: oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, cherry, pale oak and, since Java 26.3 and Bedrock 26.50, poplar from the dappled forest. All five planks have to be the same type. Bamboo planks make a bamboo raft, which looks flatter but handles exactly like a boat. Crimson and warped planks from the Nether can’t make boats.
The wood type is only cosmetic. Every boat has the same speed and holds the same number of riders.
Boat with chest
Put a boat and a chest together in the crafting grid to get a boat with a chest. You lose the second seat, but you gain 27 slots of storage you can open while riding. It’s a good pick for long ocean trips or hauling loot back from a shipwreck.
Moving villagers and mobs
Boats are the classic way to move villagers. Place a boat in the villager’s path, or push it into them, and they’ll climb in and stay. Then:
- on water, ride the boat (a villager in the second seat travels with you)
- on land, the boat still moves, slowly, so you can drag it a few blocks at a time
- break the boat when you arrive and the villager steps out
That’s how most players fill a villager breeder or trading hall. See how to breed villagers for what to do once they’re there. A few mobs can’t board boats at all, including iron golems, spiders and ravagers.
Speed on water and ice
On water, a boat travels about 8 blocks per second on Java, faster than sprinting. On ice it’s much faster: around 40 blocks per second on packed ice and over 70 on blue ice. That’s why players build ice boat roads, especially in the Nether, where every block traveled counts as 8 in the Overworld.
Useful tricks
- Crossing oceans at night: most hostile mobs can’t reach you on water, though drowned can.
- Getting out: press sneak to step off. The controls for consoles and mobile are in how to get out of a boat.
- Picking it back up: hit the boat a few times and it drops as an item.
If you’re heading out by sea, pack food and a compass, since getting lost on open ocean is easy.
Common questions
Do you need a shovel to make a boat?
Not anymore. Bedrock used to require a wooden shovel in the middle of the recipe, but that was removed in 2023 (1.20.10). Both editions now use just 5 planks.
Can you make a boat from Nether wood?
No. Crimson and warped planks can't make boats. Every Overworld wood can, and bamboo makes a bamboo raft that works the same way.
How do you put a mob in a boat?
Push the boat into it, or let it walk into the boat. Most mobs that fit will climb in and stay until you break the boat.
How many players fit in a boat?
Two. A boat with a chest holds one rider, because the chest takes the second seat.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
Keep reading