Vintage Story 1.22: Rafts, Sailboats, Rapids, and the Rivers Question
Checked on 14 October 2026 against the Vintage Story 1.22.7 game files and its in-game handbook.
Vintage Story has two boats, the raft and the sailboat, and plenty of water to use them on: lakes, the sea, small streams that run from springs, and since 1.22 the rapids. What it does not have is rivers. This guide covers how to make, steer and pick up a raft, the full sailboat build, how fast each one goes, what 1.22 really added to the water, and the mods that add the large rivers you have seen in videos.
Are there rivers in Vintage Story?
Not in the vanilla game. Vintage Story 1.22.7 generates no flowing rivers. Its running water comes from two kinds of springs:
- Rivulets: springs that come out of rock faces in cliffs and caves and run down as small streams and waterfalls. They are more common in wet and geologically active regions and do not form in the coldest ones.
- Rapids (new in 1.22): uncommon springs of rapid water set into hillsides more than 20 blocks above sea level, which run downhill as fast white water. Their current pushes swimmers about 2.7 times harder than ordinary flowing water, and they are what the new waterwheel needs (see the mechanical power guide).
The developers' June 2026 development update says one of them is continuing his river research, without promising rivers for a version. Until then, rivers come from mods (see the last section).
The raft
The raft is the early boat: two seats, paddled by hand, and light enough to carry with you.
| Item | Crafting grid recipe |
|---|---|
| Wood raft | Three rows of log, rope, log: 12 logs of one wood (2 in each log slot) and 3 rope. Named after the wood, for example Oak raft |
| Bamboo raft | The same layout with 3 bundles of bamboo stakes in each slot: 18 bundles and 3 rope |
| Crude oar | 2 logs and 2 rope, in two rows of log, rope |
- Place and board: right click to place the raft on the water, then right click the raft to sit on it.
- Paddle: you need an oar in your active hotbar slot. Without one the raft does not move, which is the usual reason for "my raft won't move". Steer with the movement keys; the first rider to board steers.
- Get off: press Shift.
- Cargo: each of the two seats can hold a passenger or a basket, and the oar rest holds the oar while you are ashore.
- Pick it up: crouch (Shift) and right click the raft. It has to be empty first: nobody aboard, and the baskets and the oar taken off. You get the whole raft back as an item.
- Take it apart: hold right click on it with a saw for 6 seconds. That returns 6 logs and 1 rope (9 bundles and 1 rope from a bamboo raft), about half of what it cost, so picking it up is usually better.
The sailboat
The sailboat is built in place on land and rolled into the water. It cannot be picked up afterwards, so choose the launch spot well.
- Rollers: craft 5 roller logs (3 firewood each). Select them in your hotbar and an in-world schematic appears; rotate it with the tool mode key and place the rollers on flat ground so that the blue highlighted strip is in water. With fewer than 5 rollers, or no suitable spot next to water, the game shows an error instead of placing the site.
- Build: look at the construction site (with block interaction help on) to see what the next stage wants, and right click it with the materials. In all it takes 9 logs and 8 firewood, 298 planks, 45 support beams, 27 rope, 21 linen and two plumb-and-squares. Logs, planks and beams must all be the same wood, which also names the boat.
- Launch: the last stage launches the boat down the rollers into the water.
- Sailing: sit in the starboard aft seat by the tiller, the only seat that steers. With the sails furled the movement keys move the boat slowly. Right click the cleat on the side of the mast to set half sail, again for full sail, and a third time to furl. With sails set the boat sails by itself and you steer with left and right. In 1.22.7 the boat ignores wind direction.
- Grounded: in water that is too shallow, furl the sails and nudge it with the movement keys.
- Fitting out: most accessories go on with Ctrl and right click. One passenger sits on the port aft seat, and the eight cargo spots take extra seats, chests, baskets, crates or storage vessels, reachable on or off the boat. To carry an elk, put a wooden fence post in a cargo spot with 2 free spots behind it and use a rope on the post. A lantern hangs on the mast, ratlines let you climb it, the prow takes a figurehead (a chiseled one works too), and you can paint a name on the port bow with pigment and Shift right click. The anchor slot exists, but the anchor has no function yet.
- Take it apart: hold right click on it with a saw. You get back 144 planks, 22 support beams, 13 rope and 15 linen, roughly half the build.
How fast are boats?
Speed comes from paddling or from the sails, not from the wind or the boat's wood. Compared with a paddled raft:
| Boat and setting | Speed |
|---|---|
| Raft, paddled with an oar | 1x (the baseline) |
| Sailboat, sails furled | About 0.25x |
| Sailboat, half sail | About 0.9x |
| Sailboat, full sail | About 1.8x |
So a raft keeps up with a half-sailed boat, and the sailboat's real advantages are full sail on long trips, the cargo, and taking the whole group (and an elk) along. Wood type, bamboo or wood, makes no difference to a raft's speed.
River mods
Most "Vintage Story rivers" searches are about mods. Three are popular on the official Mod DB; all three change world generation, so they only shape newly generated land and are best added before a world is created:
- Rivers by sneezerstein: flowing rivers with lakes at their ends, running from inland out to the sea. It has to be installed on the server and on every player's game. Oceans are required, and the author suggests 50% landcover with a 300 to 500% landcover scale. Its config uses values from 0 to 1, so if a world has lakes everywhere, the author's advice is to delete or fix an old config. The latest release, 5.0.3 from 2 August 2026, is listed for 1.22.6.
- RiverGen by Nyuhnyash: branching rivers, server side only, but without any river current. Its latest release is listed for the 1.22.0 release candidates, and it suggests 40 to 50% landcover with a 300 to 400% ocean scale.
- Algernon's Watersheds: meandering streams up to very long rivers, with tributaries, small deltas and erosion. It is installed on both sides, release 7.0.4 is listed for 1.22.0 to 1.22.7, and the author warns to add or update it only on a fresh world.
On a Supercraft server, the mod browser in the server panel installs mods from the Mod DB, and the landcover settings belong in the world configuration before the world is generated (see the worldconfig reference).
Fishing from the water
Fish only bite in still water: streams, waterfalls and rapids give nothing, while lakes and the sea work. The bigger the body of water, the faster the bites, which makes a raft or sailboat useful for reaching open water. Our fishing guide covers bait and the rest.
Set sail on a persistent world. Host a Vintage Story server and explore the lakes and coasts with your friends.
Frequently asked questions
Are there rivers in Vintage Story?
Not in the vanilla game: Vintage Story 1.22.7 generates no flowing rivers. It has lakes, the sea, small streams and waterfalls from springs in rock faces, and since 1.22 rapids, rare fast-water springs on hillsides more than 20 blocks above sea level. Large rivers come from mods such as Rivers, RiverGen or Algernon's Watersheds.
How do you make a raft in Vintage Story?
On the crafting grid, fill three rows with log, rope, log: 12 logs of one wood (2 per log slot) and 3 rope. A bamboo raft takes 18 bundles of bamboo stakes and 3 rope. To move it you also need a crude oar, made from 2 logs and 2 rope, in your active hotbar slot.
How do you pick up a raft in Vintage Story?
Empty it first (nobody aboard, baskets and the oar taken off), then crouch with Shift and right click the raft. You get the whole raft back as an item. Holding right click on it with a saw instead takes it apart and returns only half the materials.
How fast is a raft compared to a sailboat?
Taking a paddled raft as 1x, a sailboat goes about 0.25x with its sails furled, about 0.9x at half sail and about 1.8x at full sail. Wind direction does not change sailboat speed in 1.22.7.
Why won't my raft move?
You need an oar in your active hotbar slot; without one the raft does not move at all. Craft a crude oar from 2 logs and 2 rope, select it, and use the movement keys.