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Building a junk ship in minecraft

This junk ship is the second ship I’ve completed within the last year! That’s two more ships than I’ve completed in the 10+ years before that.

While limiting myself (mostly) to 1 chunk builds means I’m finishing more builds; it’s not always smooth sailing. In this post I touch on the reason I’m building my second ship in 12 months and the challenges that came with the build.

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Fuelling the need to build

I built a junk ship to house a smaller smelting set up than my auto smelter array. I discussed in my post in support of using dried kelp blocks as fuel; the challenges I had keeping the large array fuelled.

Spruce framework of a mast and booms outlining the iconic junk rigged sail. The four corners of a chunk are marked and spruce runs diagonal thorough the chunk marking the centre of the future ship.

As with most of my builds this was going to be a 1 chunk build. This meant I was going to have to build this junk on an angle. I think this is my first time building anything that has been angled 45 degrees in Minecraft.

Books and quills, but IRL

This build started with a trip to the local library. I needed source material and wasn’t happy with what I was finding online. I checked-out a book listing a large number of current (at the time of print) sailing ships. Each with a small description and a picture or two.

This book had a junk rigged vessel and I noted things that stood out and made some sketches. After a few sketches; it was this simple ink sketch I did on a lunch break that captured the silhouette I was trying to recreate.

A ink sketch of a junk ship from the starboard stern. A single mast ship with a cabin dominating the rear half of the ship.

When researching a build you may need to throw out what you seen in games or movies. I had been playing a game that had a 3 masted junk in it and that image was making it harder to reproduce my own image of this style of ship.

When the mediums primary goal is entertainment there are liberties taken to make things more dynamic, extraordinary or simpler.

In particular, I noticed the rigging of the real ship didn’t suggest sails could quickly swing from side to side as they did in the game I was playing. Once I understood how a ship with junk rigging would be sailed and I could then transfer that to paper.

Other than the sails I noticed:

  • The sleek and shallow hull
  • A prominent cabin at the stern
  • The stern rising early from the water with a visable rudder below

Now I needed to transfer this into the blocky world of minecraft. Something I found easier with concept art to reference.

Texture, angles and signs

I started with wood and mud brick walls for the hull; however, building on an angle resulted in a lot of texture and noise. A switch to polished tuff provided a cleaner palette that makes the angle of the ship less noticeable.

The chiseled blocks allowed for some extra details given the impression of a name plate and some other adornments on the stern and near the bow.

A view of the stern from the shore of a custom mushroom biome. The sail hangs over the port side just above the water.

I tried a few approaches to the sails settling on pale oak with some birch, sandstone and bone blocks mixed in. Hanging signs allow the spruce slabs to show through. A mix of stripped logs trap doors and stairs provide some shape.

A view of the junk "sailing" towards the shot. The wake is visible and the iconic junk sail dominates the image.

Mangrove slabs and trap doors were the perfect accent with spruce and jungle wood the main blocks of the deck and cabin.

The player stands on a gunnel looking through a spyglass. The deck is full with pots, composters, and barrels.

A water source block on the bow and the rudder gives the impression of wake. Pots, composters and barrels simulate cargo and give a sense of purpose to this small cargo ship.

Cosmetics over speed

2 furnaces with a single output are crammed into the hull of this junk build. It won’t be fast, but it won’t deplete my fuel supply as quickly.

Having been built on an angle the junk appears to be sailing along the shore line. A shore line that splits the spawn chunks.

A furnace and some hoppers in the cargo hold can be seen through a trap door. These sit below barrels on the deck that serve as inputs for items and fuel.

By putting the boat within the spawn chunks, the speed of item smelting isn’t as important. I can place items to be smelted in one or both of the furnaces and come back later.

So far it’s been effective. The main island and the second smaller island that I am building on are not very big. It’s not much effort to place items for smelting in the input barrels and come back when I inevitably return to my storage for a block I forgot.

I hope you enjoyed this one and leave a comment if you would like to see something added to my world! I wouldn’t have tried something new if I didn’t get a comment asking me to try out a junk ship.

If you were looking for tips for your boat builds check out this post; building a boat in Minecraft that has more of a tutorial feel.

Build stats

Real Life Days: 26

Minecraft Days: 199

Hours: 7

This build was a 1 chunk build, if you’d like to see more 1 chunk builds click here.

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