Crafting in Minecraft- Advanced Tools 3- Mobility Tools (Part Two)

Boats

Boats are a neat little thing you can make in Minecraft that lets you travel far more quickly and easily in water.  A boat is crafted by placing a ‘u’ shape using the three blocks across the bottom of a crafting table’s craft space, and then filling the middle space on either side.  You can only make boats out of planks, so take care.

Boats are placed by right-clicking water with them, and will float in place until touched, boarded, or until they touch a water flow.  Boats respond to touch, meaning that if you bump into one, you’ll send it floating away from you across the water.  You can also board a boat, by ‘using’ it (right-click for PC users).  While you are in a boat, you can move across water by holding a direction- the boat will slowly pick up speed until it’s going a bit faster than your usual walking speed.  If you release the movement key, the boat will ‘coast’ to a stop after a bit.  Boats will automatically follow water flow, and follow the flow of water faster than you do without a boat, which can make them convenient sometimes.

Boats are, however, fragile, so be careful.  If you accidentally run your boat into a non-water block, even at the lowest possible speed, it will break into pieces- usualy one or two plank blocks and a stick or two.  These resources are never enough to make another boat, sadly.

Minecarts

The minecart is crafted from iron ingots.  By placing five ingots into the crafting table’s crafting space just as you would wooden planks for a boat, you craft a minecart.  These are pretty much useless on their own- you can push them along the ground to a certain point, and you can climb into them or even set a chest in them- but that’s it.

Minecarts become useful when you have rails set up.  When a minecart on rails is pushed, it will follow the rails until it either runs out of momentum, or reaches the end of the tracks.  This distance can be improved by rails that go downhill, which will make the cart pick up speed, and certain powered rails can give the cart a speed boost as well, making redstone invaluable for long-distance cart travel.

You climb into a minecart the same way as you do a boat, though unlike a boat, you cannot then use the direction keys to move the cart- it has to get its momentum from something outside of it.  You can also knock a minecart off the rails and turn it into a carryable block again by hitting it enough times in quick succession- be warned, they shake when hit, so it requires repeated clicking rather than clicking and holding.

As a final, quirky note about the minecart, while you are riding in a minecart you are treated as being as tall as the cart, meaning you can ride through places that would leave your head passing through solid blocks, and you will not suffocate.