Boat

Rarity color	Common
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	No
Flammable item?	Yes
Size	*In Java Edition:* Height: 0.5625 Blocks Width: 1.375 Blocks In Bedrock Edition: Height: 0.455 Blocks Width: 1.4 Blocks
Network ID	JE: 1

A boat is both an item and a vehicle entity used primarily for fast transport of players and passenger mobs over bodies of water.

Obtaining[]

Boats can be retrieved by repeatedly punching them until they drop as an item.

Boats can be crafted with any overworld planks.

Tools and weapons with damage above 4 can instantly destroy a boat in one hit.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Crafting[]

Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Matching Overworld Planks		‌^{[Java Edition only]}
Matching Overworld Planks + Wooden Shovel		‌^{[Bedrock and Education editions only]}

Usage[]

Boats can be used for the transportation of players and mobs, sold for emeralds, or burnt as fuel.

Trading[]

Master-level fisherman villagers always offer to buy a boat for an emerald. The type of boat depends on the biome outfit type of the villager; plains villagers offer to buy oak boats, taiga and snowy villagers offer to buy spruce boats, savanna villagers offer to buy acacia boats, desert and jungle villagers offer to buy jungle boats, and swamp villagers offer to buy dark oak boats.

Fuel[]

When used as fuel in a furnace, a boat lasts 60 seconds, smelting up to 6 items.

Transportation[]

Entering[]

The animation of an oak boat when atop a bubble column.

A player enters a boat by using it, if the boat is not fully occupied (boats can hold two entities). Unlike beds, there is no message above the hotbar for attempting to enter a fully occupied boat.^[1]

Exiting[]

A boat can be exited by sneaking or, in Bedrock Edition, pressing down the right analog stick on a controller, tapping the "Leave Boat" button when using touch controls, or jumping. When exiting a boat, the player is placed in the direction the player is facing, or, if facing directly up or down, the player is placed in front of the boat. The exiting player is placed on land if that is possible from the dismounting position.

Motion[]

Boats do not turn with mouse-look.

With a keyboard or gamepad, boats are controlled using the forward, left (turns left), right (turns right), and backward keys. Using the sprint key increases the field of vision, but does not increase speed as if sprinting.

With touchscreen controls, two buttons for steering appear. The right button or key steers to the left, and the left button or key steers to the right. Pressing both buttons moves the boat forward.

Since Java Edition 1.9, it is no longer possible to ride a boat upstream. A boat lift, usually made from tripwire, piston, and optionally a slime block, can be used to move a boat up. Players can also use water buckets to move a boat upward, although a player must be steering the boat.

Behavior[]

Speed[]

Boats move according to the player's control or water currents, with speed affected by the surface traversed. Boats move extremely quickly on ice, allowing for the construction of fast transportation systems in any dimension.


Substance	Speed
Water	8.0 blocks/s
Ice, Frosted Ice, Packed Ice	57.1 blocks/s
Blue Ice	72.7 blocks/s
Land	2.0 blocks/s

Flotation[]

A boat floats atop still or flowing water. In Java Edition, a boat sinks if it enters a waterfall. In Bedrock Edition, a boat does not capsize in a waterfall but floats up.

When a boat moves over a bubble column, it begins to shake. If the bubbles are caused by a magma block, all passengers are expelled and the boat sinks. In Java Edition, a sunken boat cannot be re-floated; it must be replaced. In Bedrock Edition, a boat resumes floating when it emerges from the currents keeping it down, or when the bubble column is blocked or removed.

Dolphins chase players riding a boat in motion, occasionally bumping the boat, causing it to shake briefly.

Destruction[]

As boats are entities, they have health. Boats effectively have just over 4 (exactly 4 damage is not quite enough to destroy a boat), and regenerate ¹⁄₁₀ per game tick.

Boats can be destroyed by explosions, fire and lava (but not magma blocks), cactus, and by being punched. Boats made invulnerable with commands cannot be broken by any of these, however they still cannot be used to travel on lava because they sink.

When a boat is destroyed under normal conditions, it drops itself in item form. In certain conditions, such as when falling for exactly 12, 13, 49, 51, 111, 114, 198, 202, 310, or 315 blocks,^[2] it drops two sticks and three planks upon being destroyed.

Passengers[]

Boats can support two riders, including mobs. Except for endermen in Bedrock Edition, a mob cannot exit a boat and is trapped until the boat gets destroyed, or until the player uses a fishing rod or lead to remove the mob. This can be used to transport mobs, although hostile mobs still attack while in boats. Mobs riding a boat don't despawn,‌^{[Java Edition only]} and don't count on the mob cap.

A player cannot both move (row) and use items at the same time. It is still possible to initialize an item use (e.g. start eating) and row the boat while the item is still in the middle of the use animation. Although the boating animation overrides the item use animation, the item can still be successfully consumed. This does not work with items that are triggered by the release of the use button (e.g. bow, trident).‌^{[Java Edition only]}

In Java Edition, boats can completely nullify fall damage for itself and any players/mobs riding it, making it useful for transportation/travel through mountains or through the Nether (except on the situations where the boat breaks). This does not work in Bedrock Edition, however: while the boat survives, its occupants still receive fall damage.

Riding a boat does not deplete hunger, making it an efficient way to travel.

Being in a boat limits the player's mouse-look to the forward 210° arc.

Collision[]

Boat has a solid collision box, which means players and other entities can't go through it even with high speed. Falling blocks are also blocked by boat.

Riding a boat over a lily pad causes the lily pad to drop, although the boat speed stutters a bit.

Game edition differences[]

Java Edition

A sunken boat is sunk forever, unable to be retrieved until it is broken by the player.
For mobs to enter a boat, they must be on the side of the boat. A mob cannot control the boat.
When moving fast enough, a "water spray" visual effect represents the bow wake.

Bedrock Edition

A sunken boat resumes floating when it emerges from the current or the waterfall that was keeping it down.
Mobs can be 'picked up' by riding a boat near them.
Leads can be attached to boats, though the lead often breaks on land, due to boats moving much slower on land.
Endermen can teleport out of a boat, but any other mob can be captured by a boat.

Sounds[]

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Rowing	Friendly Creatures	Plays when riding boat on land	`entity.boat.paddle_land`	`subtitles.entity.boat.paddle_land`	1.0	0.8 - 1.2 ^{[check the code]}	16
	Rowing	Friendly Creatures	Plays when riding boat on water	`entity.boat.paddle_water`	`subtitles.entity.boat.paddle_water`	0.8	0.8 - 1.2 ^{[check the code]}	16

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Boat	Resource location	Item tags (JE)	Form	Translation key
Oak item	`oak_boat`	`boats`	Item	`item.minecraft.oak_boat`
Spruce item	`spruce_boat`	`boats`	Item	`item.minecraft.spruce_boat`
Birch item	`birch_boat`	`boats`	Item	`item.minecraft.birch_boat`
Jungle item	`jungle_boat`	`boats`	Item	`item.minecraft.jungle_boat`
Acacia item	`acacia_boat`	`boats`	Item	`item.minecraft.acacia_boat`
Dark Oak item	`dark_oak_boat`	`boats`	Item	`item.minecraft.dark_oak_boat`

Boat	Resource location	Translation key
Entity	`boat`	`entity.minecraft.boat`

Bedrock Edition:

Boat	Resource location	Alias ID (BE)	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Oak item	`oak_boat`	`boat / 0`	`333`	Item	`item.boat.oak.name`
Spruce item	`spruce_boat`	`boat / 1`	`333`	Item	`item.boat.spruce.name`
Birch item	`birch_boat`	`boat / 2`	`333`	Item	`item.boat.birch.name`
Jungle item	`jungle_boat`	`boat / 3`	`333`	Item	`item.boat.jungle.name`
Acacia item	`acacia_boat`	`boat / 4`	`333`	Item	`item.boat.acacia.name`
Dark oak item	`dark_oak_boat`	`boat / 5`	`333`	Item	`item.boat.big_oak.name`

Boat	Resource location	Numeric ID	Translation key
Entity	`boat`	`90`	`entity.boat.name`

Entity data[]

Boats have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the entity.

Java Edition:

Entity data
- Tags common to all entities
- Type: The wood type of the boat. Valid types are oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia, dark_oak.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other platforms	Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
		Whatever Floats Your Goat	Get in a boat and float with a Goat	Use a boat and put a goat inside that boat, then ride it	20G	Bronze

Advancements[]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Whatever Floats Your Goat!	Get in a Boat and float with a Goat	Husbandry	Enter a boat with a goat.	`husbandry/ride_a_boat_with_a_goat`

History[]

Java Edition Alpha

v1.0.6 Added boats.

Initially, boats broke upon being placed outside water, and on impact with land.

v1.0.6_01 Boats now only break on impact with land at high speeds.

Boats no longer break upon being placed outside water.

Boat turning has been made smoother.

Java Edition Beta

1.8 Pre-release It is now possible to score a critical hit against a boat.

Java Edition

1.3.1 12w15a Boats can now be shot out from dispensers.

1.3 The texture of the oak boat item has been changed.

12w21a Boats no longer take damage when colliding with lily pads. Instead, the lily pads themselves break.

12w23a Boats can now accelerate to faster than previous speeds, and are now easier to control.

12w27a Boats now drop their item instead of 3 oak wood planks and 2 sticks if broken by a player.

1.6.1 ? New boat physics with lower inertia, but left, back and right controls have been removed.

Boats now take damage and break when colliding with many lily pads in a short time.

1.7.2 13w36a Players can now /summon mobs riding boats, though mobs cannot control boats.

13w43a Boats no longer inflict fall damage when running aground.

Boats being broken by lily pads has been slightly improved.

Left, back and right controls added again.

1.8 14w06a Mobs riding boats can now control them, so that they can chase or flee enemies, move toward food, move about randomly, or whatever they would do on land. The exceptions are the ghast and bat, both of which cannot control boats.

1.8.2 pre2 Boats can now survive crashes at higher speeds.

? Boats no longer break snow layers they run into.

1.9

15w41a

Boats have been overhauled to match the boats from Pocket Edition Alpha 0.11.0. They now have oars for paddling and are more durable and now allows passengers to board.

Mobs can now board boats, though they can no longer control them.

A new set of controls have been introduced: it includes holding down the right and left keys to move forward, and using the right key to move the right oar, turning the boat to the left (and vice-versa). Mouse movement no longer turns boats, and the forward and back keys no longer have any effect.

Players can no longer use items or attack from boats unless they were at a complete stop.

The crafting recipe for boats has been changed to require a wooden shovel as shown below.

Recipe

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Oak Planks + Wooden Shovel

Added variants of all wood types, though only the oak boat can be crafted.

The NBT tag Type (string) have now added for the boat entity, taking values oak, spruce, birch, jungle, acacia and dark_oak.

15w42a Birch, spruce, acacia and jungle boats can now be crafted using the same recipe as oak, except with the corresponding planks.

The new boats are now comparable in speed to the old boats (slightly faster than sprinting), though with less momentum.

Players can now use items and attack immediately after they stop rowing.

15w43c The texture of boats has been remapped, so that they now have a separate texture per oar and per side of the boat.

15w45a The dark oak boat can now be crafted.

15w51a Boats now drop their corresponding planks when broken.

16w04a Boats are now faster and now move forward and backward using the forward and backward keys respectively, and steer left and right using the left and right keys respectively. The rowing mechanism introduced in 15w41a, holding the right and left keys, is removed and no longer moves the boat forward. The controls are now more similar to boats before the overhaul.

Boats now sink when underwater, or within flowing water of any depth.

The crafting recipe of boats has been restored to the original recipe, no longer requiring a wooden shovel as it has since 15w41a (though matching wood planks is still required).

Riding a boat no longer subjects water-sensitive mobs to being damaged by water, and no longer protects sunlight-sensitive mobs from being damaged by sunlight.

Dismounting in a boat now attempts to place the player on land.

Due to a bug, boats travel fast on land.^[3]

16w05a The bug of boats travelling fast on land has been fixed.

Boats now travel extremely fast on ice, packed ice and frosted ice.

16w06a Riding entities such as boats are now run by the client rather than by the server.

1.11 16w32a The entity ID has been changed from Boat to boat.

The player's hunger bar is now visible when riding in a boat.

16w33a Boats can now be used to fuel furnaces.

1.12 17w17a A boat paddles sound has been added.

1.13 17w47a The oak boat ID has been changed from boat to oak_boat.

Prior to The Flattening, these items' numeral IDs were 333, 444, 445, 446, 447 and 448.

18w15a Added blue ice, which allows boats to travel even faster on it.

1.14 18w43a The textures of all boats have been changed.

18w50a The textures of all boats have been changed to match the new planks.

19w11a Fisherman villagers now buy boats.

1.15 19w37a Boats as fuel now smelt 6 items in a furnace instead of 1.

1.16 20w18a Mobs in boats no longer despawn.

Pocket Edition Alpha

September 19, 2014 Tommaso Checchi tweeted a picture of a player riding a boat, stating that the most important thing is to "get the paddling right."

January 26, 2015 Tommaso Checchi tweets a screenshot of multiple riders in a single boat.

February 20, 2015 Tommaso Checchi tweets a screenshot of multiple boats with only mobs in them.

v0.11.0

build 1

Added boats. Each wood type has its own respective variant, though they share the same sprite as items.

Boats can support two riders, including mobs.

Boats are larger in size than in Java Edition.

Boats are more resistant to crashing against land than in Java Edition.

build 12 Projectiles can now be shot from boats.

v0.12.1 build 1 Added all boat variants to the Creative inventory.

New inventory icons for boats have been added. The sprite now includes paddles and represents their respective wood color.

v0.13.0 build 1 Boats are now slightly faster than sprinting, and no longer deplete hunger.

Players can now use items and attack immediately after they stop rowing.

build 3 Boats now stack on top of each other.

Bedrock Edition

1.2.0 beta 1.2.0.22 Boats now move faster on ice.

1.5.0 beta 1.5.0.0 The steering of boats has been changed when using keyboard and mouse - W now moves the boat forward and S reverses it.

beta 1.5.0.4 Boats can now sink or float on bubble columns.

1.10.0 beta 1.10.0.3 The textures of all boats have been changed.

1.11.0 beta 1.11.0.4 Boats can now be bought from fisherman villagers.

1.16.0 beta 1.16.0.57 Trading has been changed, master-level fisherman villagers now offer to buy boats based on their villager biome outfit.

Due to trading changes, birch boats can no longer be sold to fisherman villagers.

1.16.100 beta 1.16.100.51 Custom named boats now save their name after placing and breaking.

beta 1.16.100.56 The item ID boat has been split up into <type>_boat.

Legacy Console Edition

TU1 CU1 1.0 Patch 1 1.0.1 Added boats.

TU12 The maximum number of boats in a world has been increased to 40.

Boats now break when they hit land hard.

TU14 1.04 Boats are no longer broken by lily pads anymore, instead they run straight through the lily pad now, breaking and sometimes dropping it.

When boats crash, they can now sometimes drop themselves as items.

Boats are now less glitchy and more responsive now.

The maximum speed of boats has been increased.

When exiting, players now move from the boat.

When broken by a player, they drop a boat now.

TU46 CU36 1.38 Patch 15 Boats have been overhauled to match Pocket Edition Alpha 0.11.0 boats.

TU57 CU49 1.56 Patch 27 1.0.7 The crafting recipe of boats has been changed to require a wooden shovel.

1.90 The textures of all boats have been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

0.1.0 Added boats.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Boat" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

Sand, red sand, concrete powder, gravel, anvils, and dragon eggs drop as items when they fall onto a boat that is in water.
A chest is short enough that a boat falls onto it rather than crashes into it.
In Legacy Console Edition, holding the movement stick to the side in a boat on blue ice causes the player to spin quickly. If a passenger is in the boat while this occurs, when the player exits the boat after it reaches maximum velocity (attained after about three seconds), for most mobs, the mob's head may spin uncontrollably. For some mobs, however, nothing happens (such as slimes and ghasts). The mob may also get its head stuck at an angle. Thorough testing was done on Minecraft: Wii U Edition, although the glitch was originally discovered on the Xbox 360 Edition.