Expensive Boats

Boats have been in Minecraft since the early days, and they let you travel vast distances across water from day one with minimal resource investment. These are one of the few features of the game that I actively dislike, and here’s why.

A basic boat requires just five planks. That’s it. You can craft one immediately after punching your first tree and suddenly cross entire oceans at high speed. Water goes from being a major obstacle to a highway you can access instantly.

This fundamentally changes how you approach the world. Instead of water creating natural boundaries that shape your exploration, you can sail off into the sunset whenever you want. Distance becomes meaningless when you can cross thousands of blocks in minutes with almost no preparation.

Early game exploration

Think about your typical early game progression. You spawn, gather basic resources, and then you can craft a boat and sail to any biome you want. You can reach structures, villages, and resources that should feel like major discoveries, all without any real investment or journey.

Water also becomes a safety net. If you’re cheap like me, you’ve probably spent at least one early-game night on a boat just to get away from hostile mobs on land. Instead of engaging with the gameplay loop (building proper shelter or dealing with the night cycle) you just explore islands and shipwrecks until dawn. It’s an easy escape that removes the pressure of early survival.

When boats are cheap, water exploration has no significance or stakes.

Expensive Boats

This data pack changes the boat crafting recipe to require a bottom layer of wood, a netherite ingot, and wood (underneath the normal recipe). This is implied to be the boat’s ballast and keel – you’ll just have to pretend it’s not a dinghy.

With netherite required, boats become an investment. You need to progress through the game, explore the Nether, and commit valuable resources before you can sail vast distances. Water travel becomes something you earn rather than something you get for free.

When boats are expensive, crossing water feels meaningful again. You plan your journeys, you consider whether the trip is worth the resource cost, and reaching distant shores feels like an accomplishment.

I think this is more fun when used in combination with No Sprinting and No Sprint-Swimming, to make movement more intentional and distance more meaningful.