How to make a boat in Minecraft Java and Bedrock edition

Aakrit Sharma
A boat in Minecraft's ocean biome

Alongside beds, tools, and armor, Minecraft players must have a boat to explore their world efficiently. Here’s how to craft a boat and travel across the oceans in Minecraft Java and Bedrock edition.

Minecraft has a massive Overworld that comprises snowy biomes, jungles, deserts, and unsurprisingly, oceans. While horses and llamas can help you travel on land, a boat is the only medium of effective transportation on water.

It is never too early to make a boat in Minecraft. Moreover, crafting it won’t require you to collect rare materials like a dragon egg. Instead, you simply need to get some wood from the Overworld.

Here’s how to make a boat in Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions.

A self-made boat in Minecraft

How to craft a boat in Minecraft Java edition

You need five planks of wood to make a boat in Minecraft Java edition. First, find some trees in the Overworld and chop them to get wooden logs. Thereafter, put these logs into any slot of the crafting grid and they’ll turn into planks.

Lastly, place three wooden planks in the middle or bottom row of the crafting table and two planks on the edges of the row above it to get a boat.

The same has been showcased in the image below:

Crafting recipe to make a boat in Minecraft

Do note that you can use Dark Oak, Acacia, Jungle, Birch, Spruce, and Oak to craft wood. Just ensure that you’re using the same type of wood while crafting.

How to craft a boat in Minecraft Bedrock edition

You need five wooden planks and a wooden shovel to make a boat in Minecraft Bedrock edition. The crafting recipe is almost identical as you only need to put a wooden shovel between the two planks in the upper row.

To make a wooden shovel in the game, you’ll need sticks and planks. The crafting recipe for sticks, which is basically putting two planks vertically in a crafting grid, has been showcased in the image below:

Crafting recipe for sticks in Minecraft

After obtaining sticks, you can place two of them vertically on a crafting table and place a plank on top to get a wooden shovel:

Crafting recipe to make a wooden shovel in Minecraft

How to use a boat in Minecraft

After crafting a boat in Minecraft, add it to your inventory and place it in water by going near a water source and right-clicking. Right-click again to ride it.

Some of the best uses of boats in Minecraft are:

  • Avoid fall damage when you’re riding a boat.
  • Trap mobs and creatures like turtles.
  • Travel in challenging terrains such as ice and the Nether.

This was everything to know about making and using boats in Minecraft. For similar content, check out our Minecraft crafting guides for command blocks, elevators, and composters.

Image Credits: Mojang / Reddit user u/Plenty-Kaleidoscope8

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About The Author

Aakrit is a games writer with over 2000 published articles for EssentiallySports, Sportskeeda, FortniteINTEL, and CharlieINTEL. Currently, he writes guides on Minecraft, Roblox, Pokemon games, Genshin Impact, and Brawlhalla. Aakrit loves playing shooter games and in his free time, you can find him queued up in Valorant, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or Halo Infinite. You can contact Aakrit at [email protected].