How to Craft a Boat in Minecraft

It’s incredibly easy to craft a boat, so you’ll be able to start sailing (well, rowing) the seas after starting in your watery world.

Minecraft’s Update Aquatic added expansive ocean exploration, but until you’ve got what you’ll need to start diving in, all that water is just in the way. That’s where boats come in! It’s incredibly easy to craft a boat, so you’ll be able to start sailing (well, rowing) the seas after starting in your watery world. Here’s all you’ll need to craft a boat in Minecraft Java Edition and Minecraft Bedrock Edition!

Building your first Crafting Table

Before you can start crafting anything, you’ll need to create a Crafting Table to gain access to its 3×3 crafting grid. Crafting Tables are one of the first things you’ll make, so, of course, they’re pretty simple. Collect some wood (any kind will do) and drop it into your crafting grid to convert it into planks. Once you have planks, fill all 4 spaces with at least one plank each, and you’ve made a Crafting Table!

How to craft a boat in Minecraft Java Edition

Once you have your Crafting Table, you’re ready to make your very own boat! You’ll need planks, but if you’ve collected from even just a single tree, you likely have more than enough. Using your Crafting Table, arrange five planks of the same type in the following pattern:

Looks sort of like a boat, right? Well, close enough. That’s all there is to it! The type of boat you create will depend on the type of wood you used, such as an Oak Boat or Birch Boat, but different wood only changes the boat’s color. There are no advantages whatsoever of one boat over another. Remember, you’ll need to use five planks of the same type. No mixing Oak and Birch (or other wood types).

How to craft a boat in Minecraft Bedrock Edition

It’s equally as easy to craft a boat in Minecraft Bedrock Edition, though it will require a few more pieces of wood. You’ll need to add a shovel to the above arrangement, which requires only a single piece of wood and two sticks, which are crafted by placing two planks on top of each other. In your 3×3 grid, place two sticks vertically and a block of wood on top, and you’ve crafted a wooden shovel!

Once you have your wooden shovel, arrange five planks and the shovel in the following pattern:

Ta-da! Boat time.

How to use your new boat

So you have a boat, but you don’t want to be too far up creek without knowing how to paddle. Using a boat is easy, simply drag it to your hotbar and right click on it. You can use boats on water (obviously) and also on land, if that’s your thing. Boats are steered using your movement keys and, when you’re ready to leave the boat, you can exit using Left Shift (Java) or tapping “Leave Boat” (Bedrock). You can pick up your boat by attacking it until it drops as an item. That’s all there is to it!