Wooden Raft

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 build restrictions allowing you to build inside (Enemy foundation areas, including pillars, walls and even main structures). Rafts are especially good for new players, as all creatures (except deep water ) will completely ignore the raft and its driver while it is being driven (However, be wary that creatures will still attack your tamed creatures.). New players should build and use a "house-boat" as soon as they are able to, while looking for a main base location.

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. With building modifications, Rafts can be a type of shelter, mobile home, a houseboat, 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, ,.

You can move the raft forward and turn when moving by pressing, , and Move the Camera with the  on controller and the. 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, ,.

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 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. 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. . 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 ).

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.

Dangers

 * Stay close to shore to avoid . These are capable of destroying even the greatest of rafts.   can sometimes be temporarily pacified by tossing  into the water.
 * All creatures except the 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

 * Structure limit: 88 (176 in ARK: Survival Evolved Mobile)
 * On private servers or single player you can change PerPlatformMaxStructuresMultiplier.
 * Height limit: Survivors can build up to 6 walls high above the raft, and up to 80 walls below it.
 * Size limit: 9x9 (with the corners being cut off).
 * Transponder Nodes will work on the raft, but must be placed on the raft itself rather than on placed structures
 * C4 Charges do not attach to the Wooden Raft platform.
 * The only way for a raft's ownership to be changed with structures on it is for a server admin to use Admin commands such as to join another tribe and then  for transferring Ownership.
 * No matter the size of the raft, it will fit through a 1 foundation wide gap. Structures inside the raft will not be affected by this clipping; any animals though (even if totally enclosed by walls) will be pushed off the raft if they collide with the obstacle.
 * Animals capable wearing platform saddles, such as, , and are unable to stand on other platforms, which includes the raft. When such an animal attempts to stand on a raft, it will slide right off it. The Quetzal, on the other hand, will automatically take off upon landing on the raft.
 * Not buildable on a raft:
 * all kinds of pipes (stone and metal): Stone Irrigation Pipe - Intake, Stone Irrigation Pipe - Straight, Stone Irrigation Pipe - Vertical, Stone Irrigation Pipe - Inclined, Stone Irrigation Pipe - Intersection, Stone Irrigation Pipe - Flexible, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Intake, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Straight, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Vertical, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Inclined, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Intersection, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Flexible.
 * because of that all structures that requires pipes to be placed can't be build on a raft: Stone Irrigation Pipe - Tap, Metal Irrigation Pipe - Tap, Water Reservoir, Metal Water Reservoir, Industrial Cooker.
 * Beer Barrel.

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.
 * 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.