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Wooden Raft
Wooden Raft
A floating wooden platform that you can pilot across the water. Can support the weight of structures and be built on.
Type
Health
20,000
Weight
85.0
Stack size
1
Added in
Spawn Command
cheat giveitemnum 410 1 0 0
or
cheat giveitem "Blueprint'/Game/PrimalEarth/Items/Raft/PrimalItemRaft.PrimalItemRaft'" 1 0 0
Required level
Engram points
11 EP
Crafting XP
375 XP
Crafting time
15s
Crafted in
Ingredients
125 × Fiber Fiber
75 × Hide Hide
Purchased in
Cost
100 × Cuts (Mobile) Cuts (ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile)
100 × Slips (Mobile) Slips (ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile)

The Wooden Raft is a player vehicle that allows for transportation on water.

The Wooden Raft platform is useful for establishing a mobile base; as structures, beds, and storage items can be placed directly on top. The Raft can also ignore some build restrictions such as building near Enemy Structures. Rafts are especially good for new players, as most creatures (except the ocean dwelling Leedsichthys Leedsichthys) will ignore and cannot damage the raft and it's driver while it is being driven. (Be wary that wild creatures will still attack tamed dinos or other players on the Raft). It is advised that New players should build and use a "house-boat" for shelter and protection as soon as they are able to.

Usage[]

Rafts are essentially the wooden boats of Ark with their many fundamental uses. They can be used as cargo ships transporting resources, other survivors and even large Spino Creatures. With building modifications, Rafts can be a type of shelter, mobile home, a houseboat, dino trap or even built to be a battle ship for raiding and pirating other players. The sections below will teach you all you need to know about Rafts.

Controls[]

Controlling the raft is easy. Though because it is on water, it continues to slide some distance before stopping.

To start controlling the Raft press E, Y, Triangle.

You can move the raft forward and turn when moving by pressing WASD, Left Stick, Left Stick and Move the Camera with the Right sticks on controller and the Mouse on pc. The Raft cannot move in Reverse except only on Ark Mobile.

Hide/Unhide Sail[]

You can hide or unhide the raft's sail by pressing and holding E, Y, Triangle.

This makes it easier to see in front of the raft, especially if you've built structures on it.

Attachments[]

On ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile, a Sail Plume (Mobile) Sail Plume can be attached to increase the speed of the Raft.

Building[]

For more information and tips on building see also Building.

The raft on its own does not block any spawns; but will prevent natural spawning if there's a foundation or another structure such as pillars, walls etc. attached. Many structures can be placed directly on the raft, however, walls and other building structures require a Foundation Foundation. Foundations do not snap to the raft, therefore careful placing is needed.

Players should be careful when building structures obstructing the rudder (the steering part of the raft, consisting of a lever and bottom rudder), as their survivor may become stuck in the structure upon dismounting the raft.

Since structures do not snap to the raft itself, it's wise to use the wood lines in the raft's floor to align floor foundations. To make tiny adjustments while rotating the foundation, lower control or looking sensitivity. To quickly and easily get structures aligned to the raft, utilize the camera reorientation when your avatar mounts the raft. Sometimes a very minor camera adjustment is needed to be considered a valid building location, but your alignment will be within a few degrees. Place a pillar from this orientation and a foundation will snap to the edge. Foundations will snap to each other until the center of the next foundation is no longer above the raft platform; ceilings may then be attached to the edge foundations and new foundations will have a valid snap point under these ceilings. These ceilings may then be removed, and any foundation placed under them (which can calculate a valid snap path back to the raft) will remain in place. Placing a 3x3 foundation pad centered on the side of the first placed pillar facing the player (after dismounting the raft) will overhang the raft front by about a half foundation. If the foundations are sunk into the raft from this alignment, they will protect every portion except the rear pontoon tips, which may be used to mount the raft (but will take damage from anything capable of harming wood structures).

Pillars can also make it possible to build a foundation inside the boat model and may fully enclose the raft's platform, protecting the bottom and top from damage until the foundation is removed. This method allows you to build over the rudder without risk of getting stuck upon dismount.[1] Using ceilings, you may also extend the raft's size beyond the platform (and foundations will snap beneath the ceiling's overhang), however this must not be used to grief or exploit (PvE and Aesthetic uses allowed[2]).

As is current with build 311.99; pillars, ceilings and foundations may be used to lower successively built foundations further into the raft. The method involves placing a pillar, snapping a foundation to the side, destroying the original pillar, placing a new pillar at one of the lower snap points of the foundation, and placing a new foundation at the pillar's snap point. Rinse and repeat This can be tricky online because the vertical snap points are very close together and latency can cause the structure to snap at a different point than the player thinks they're looking.

Lowering foundations into the raft is possible using only finesse, pillars, and foundations as described; but a second pillar may be placed into the foundation after the first pillar is destroyed, a ceiling placed atop this pillar, another ceiling placed adjacently to make an overhang, and another pillar placed under this ceiling extension at a lower snap point (although it may look very similar). Over several iterations, this will place the newest foundation fully inside the raft. When using thatch foundations, remember that the thatch model looks to be a plane or two higher than the actual surface. You'll know when you're building into the raft deck because the option to mount the raft will appear instead of interaction with the foundation; any exposed deck surface may be damaged by metal tools and some creatures.

Multiple levels of foundation may be placed on the same raft and will snap to each other horizontally (as well as at the vertical snap points of each foundation). This mechanic can be utilized to make a 1x1 enclosed structure over the rudder, where the floor can be used to mount the raft, while the rest of the raft surfaces sit safely inside the slightly higher placed foundations.

If you decide to build a mobile home on a raft, you should be aware that making your home too high can severely limit your visibility when sailing it. A small improvement is to hide the sail in the radial menu. You can use the Third-Person, Orbit Camera Mode (see your options for the key - hold the key, not just press once like the K-Mode), zoom out, and turn around moving the mouse. You can also move the camera beneath the raft to see creatures and other things in the water. But in selfie mode you can't change direction. Building tall structures primarily to the rear or sides of the raft (especially when built on extension ceilings or foundations) can make visibility much better.

Stats[]

The raft has 20,000 health in total, and is considered wood tier regarding to health. Metal pike does 20 damage, a grenade 788. The mast and helm are damageable by player attacks. Items inside of containers do not add to the raft's weight limit, and the raft itself does not store items. The raft has a total weight limit of 1800 units of the dinosaurs/structures on it.

  • The Wooden Raft is treated as a wooden structure and can not be damaged by hands, stone weapons, or non-explosive ranged attacks.
  • The following aggressive creatures can not damage the Wooden Raft:


Dangers[]

  • Stay close to shore to avoid Leedsichthys Leedsichthys. These are capable of destroying even the greatest of rafts. Leedsichthys Leedsichthys can sometimes be temporarily pacified by tossing Giant Bee Honey Giant Bee Honey into the water.
  • All creatures except the Leedsichthys Leedsichthys will ignore the raft driver, as long as the player starts driving before they aggro the creature. If the player starts driving after they aggro a creature, the creature will attack the raft and structures on the raft, not the player, for as long as the player is driving. If you want to hunt dinos, leave your raft at your base.
  • Passengers on the raft (such as other players or tamed dinos) will not be ignored, and may be attacked. However, creatures are very unlikely to attack the raft passenger if they cannot see them, so be sure to leave all doors and windows closed.
  • It is possible to travel through the narrowest and shallowest of rivers, such as the Eastern Redwood one with a raft as long as you destroy rocks ahead. If caught within them the raft will be destroyed in seconds and leave you vulnerable to surrounding predators.

Limitations[]

Getting Unstuck (Troubleshooting)[]

  • The raft can usually travel over any amount of water, no matter how narrow or shallow, even a millimeter of water. Getting stuck in a raft is rare. Even when your raft seems stuck, it is almost always possible to get escape by doing a 180 degree u-turn, and backtracking exactly the way you came. This will almost always allow you to leave.
  • If your raft is still stuck, try the following:
    • Log out/in
    • Your raft may be stuck on a log or rock underneath it. Clear all resources under and near the raft try again.
    • The raft seems to be affected by physics.
    • Running and jumping onto or off of the raft may help.
    • You can also try to use a grappling hook.
    • You can try to create a mounted harpoon and tag another raft with it. Then have them tow you out.[3]
    • If you cannot turn your raft, for an unknown reason accessing your inventory or using hotbar items while trying to turn can help the raft to turn.
    • If your raft is still stuck, and you have access to console commands, then the "ghost" command may be necessary to rescue your raft.

Notes[]

  • Purely aquatic creatures, such as the Megalodon Megalodon and Megapiranha Megapiranha, will not attack the raft if passengers or dinosaurs are on the raft.
  • Because the resources needed to build a raft can be easily acquired, and building a raft grants you a whopping 375 XP, building rafts can be used to quickly level your character, especially during the earlier levels. But only grants 30 XP in Ark mobile.
  • Wooden Raft is not fast enough to outrun a Leedsichthys Leedsichthys.
  • Driving the Wooden Raft into a lava stream on The Center map will cause the raft to be pushed back and demolished.
  • The Motorboat Motorboat is the upgraded version of the Wooden Raft.
  • Wild animals will occasionally land on or walk upon your raft.
  • Having a raft is similar to a tamed animal. They can be named, unclaimed, or destroyed, and have their own health level which will take damage from predators when ridden. However, predators will ignore rafts unless unridden.
  • On ARK: Mobile, Leedsichthys do not destroy rafts.
  • All predators will ignore players riding rafts. However they will notice you if you "dismount" and become aggressive. The raft will take all damage but animals capable of dismounting like Raptors and Kaprosuchus will remove you from the raft. Mounting a raft while targeted by a dino will add the raft to that dino's target list, where they will promptly continue to target the raft even if the player dismounts the raft or is killed.
  • A serious oddity of Ark’s design regarding watercraft is that they all end up in reverse roles from what they were intended for. Rafts, while intended for ocean travel, can sail inland waterways without fear of predators attacking the operator, and can provide near instant safety from a wild animal attack, but the ocean presents a clear danger from Leedsichthys. On the other side, the Canoe, designed for inland water ways and portages, attracts land predators and other dangers, but can sail the open ocean in near total safety, as they do not attract attention from any sea creatures unless the operator(s) have already angered the creature before jumping in. This peculiar dynamic is probably accidental, but is unlikely to change.

Painting and Color Regions[]

As the Wooden Raft is a Vehicle, it is actually treated as an Entity (such as a Human or Dinosaur) rather than a static Structure, thus it does not have any preset paint regions.

Instead, you can still doodle on it by "attacking" it with a Paintbrush Paintbrush, which will open the "Apply Paint" Menu. Then, click and drag your cursor over the 3D model (like a paintbrush) to draw anything you want. See Painting for more information on doodling.

Changelog[]

Patch Changes
207.0 Wooden Raft is added to the game.
336.3 Fixed a bug where the Raft and Motorboat Motorboat would not work properly in some water volumes.

Video[]

Showcase Of Wooden Rafts
Easy Foundation Lowering
Sunken Raft Foundations Tutorial

References[]

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