How to Make Boats & Rafts in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

While the expanses of Hyrule now include floating islands and deep caverns, there are still vast stretches of open water to cover. But thankfully, Link doesn’t have to navigate them all by swimming. Thanks to the handy new crafting mechanics in the latest Zelda game, you can build all sorts of cool vehicles. Here’s how to make boats and rafts in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

Making Boats & Rafts in Tears of the Kingdom

Any raft or boat you craft in Tears of the Kingdom can be powered in one of two ways. Either you create a simple sail-powered raft or one that harnesses the power of Zonai Energy. In any case, constructing a boat or raft is essentially the same. Here’s what you need to do:

First, chop down some trees and gather several logs together, then use the Ultrahand ability to attach them all together. You can create a seaworthy vessel with as few as two logs, but we recommend five to keep it nice and stable. You never know when a pesky lightning storm will strike and potentially rock ya boat!

Making a Sailboat

Now, if you’re planning on navigating under sailpower, you either need a Sail or a Korok leaf. The first time you construct a vessel, you should have the Sail already in hand, given it’s part of the main path of progress in the game (beating the In-isa Shrine). It’s lying as floor loot near the waterside.

As for constructing your boat, remember, when using Ultrahand, Hit “A” to attach a log. For the sail, you can rotate it by holding the “R.” Once it’s facing the right direction and you’re happy with your setup, tap “A” to finalize it. Now, most of the time, the wind will just push you along dandily, but sometimes, you’ll need to give your boat a helping hand. This is where the Korok leaf comes in. These are likely to spawn whenever you’ve chopped down trees — which, of course, you’ve just been doing. If they don’t, you can create one by combining Korok Frond and a stick using the Fuse power.

Making a Zonai-Powered Boat

Making a Zonai Fans boat doesn’t take too many extra steps. All you’re doing is replacing the sail with two Zonai Fans, though you’ll want to position them toward the rear of your boat. Of course, you do need to make sure the fans are pointed the right way. Hold the R button and use the D-pad to rotate them using the Ultrahand power.

From there, all that is required is a strike of the blades to power them up and push you toward your destination.

And that’s all there is to making boats and rafts in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. For more useful tips and guides on the game, search The Nerd Stash.

Tears of the Kingdom is available on Nintendo Switch.