Every Ship in Valheim: Four Boats, and Only One Survives the Ashlands
Valheim has four boats, and they are not four steps of the same ladder. The Raft has no storage at all. The Drakkar has thirty-two slots and 3,000 hull, and is the only boat that can cross the Ashlands' boiling water without taking damage. Between them sit the Karve and the Longship, and the choice between those two is about cargo rather than speed.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
The Four Boats
| Boat | Hull | Storage | Seats | Top speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raft | 300 | None | — | 3.1 m/s |
| Karve | 500 | 4 slots | 2 + pilot | 7.0 m/s |
| Longship | 1,000 | 18 slots | 4 + pilot | 9.5 m/s |
| Drakkar | 3,000 | 32 slots | 9 total | Near Longship speed |
The Raft is a disposable tool, not a boat. At 300 hull, 3.1 m/s under full sail and no cargo space whatsoever, it exists to get you across a river or to a nearby island. Its own wiki entry calls it a "disposable solution to overcoming water obstacles" and warns against ocean voyages. Paddling a Raft is 1.6 m/s — roughly half its sailing speed, and barely a walking pace.
The Karve is the first real boat. At 7.0 m/s in full wind it more than doubles the Raft, and its 4 storage slots make a supply run possible. Its weakness is the hull: 500 HP is deceptively fragile against a Serpent, and the Karve is the boat most players lose.
The Longship is the workhorse. 1,000 hull, 18 slots, 9.5 m/s — and it is the boat a metal run is built around, since ore cannot go through a portal.
The Drakkar is a different category. 3,000 hull is three times the Longship, 32 slots is nearly double, and 9 seats makes it the only genuinely communal boat. It sails "nearly as fast as Longships", trading agility for durability and space.
What Each One Costs
| Boat | Materials |
|---|---|
| Raft | Wood ×20, Leather scraps ×6, Resin ×6 |
| Karve | Finewood ×30, Deer hide ×10, Resin ×20, Bronze nails ×80 |
| Longship | Iron nails ×100, Deer hide ×10, Finewood ×40, Ancient bark ×40 |
| Drakkar | Iron nails ×100, Ceramic plate ×30, Finewood ×50, Yggdrasil wood ×25 |
The nails are the gate on every boat past the Raft. Karve needs 80 bronze nails, which means the Black Forest and a smelter. Longship and Drakkar both need 100 iron nails, which means Sunken Crypts. Drakkar additionally needs Yggdrasil wood and Ceramic plate, putting it firmly behind the Mistlands.
Ancient bark is the Longship's quiet cost. Forty of it means felling Ancient trees in the Swamp with a bronze axe or better — a job people forget until the hull is half-built.
No boat can be dismantled with a hammer. They drop their materials when destroyed, and those materials can be recovered if you are standing or swimming in range before they sink. That is the only way to "unbuild" a boat, and it is a genuinely risky operation on a Drakkar.
Seats, Storage and Sailing With a Group
Cargo weight does not affect handling or speed. This is the single most useful fact about Valheim's boats: a fully loaded Longship sails exactly as fast as an empty one. There is no reason to travel light.
Seat counts matter less than they look, because any number of players can "Hold Fast" to the mast regardless of the seat count — and on a Longship you can also hold fast to the bow. Seats are comfort; the boat will carry your whole group either way.
The storage progression is the real curve: 0 → 4 → 18 → 32. A Karve's four slots carry a personal load. A Longship's eighteen carry a mining expedition. A Drakkar's thirty-two carry a base relocation.
Speed depends heavily on wind, and on a Karve, dangerously so. At 100% wind under full sails the Karve makes 7.0 m/s with a high risk of capsizing — half sails at 4.8 m/s is the safe setting in a storm. The Longship is steadier: 9.5 m/s at 100% tailwind and 9.75 at cross-tailwind, its best angle, dropping to 6.2 m/s into a head-crosswind.
And the Ashlands rule is absolute. Only the Drakkar can traverse the Ashlands' boiling water without taking damage. Any other hull is destroyed by the water itself, not by anything in it. Note that sailing back out is unnecessary once you have placed a Portal stone, which carries even ores.
Practical tips
- Four boats: Raft (300 hull, no storage) to Drakkar (3,000 hull, 32 slots).
- Cargo weight does not affect speed — always load fully.
- Any number of players can Hold Fast to the mast, whatever the seat count.
- The Karve capsizes at 100% wind under full sails — use half sails in storms.
- The Longship's best angle is cross-tailwind at 9.75 m/s, not straight downwind.
- Only the Drakkar survives Ashlands water.
- Boats cannot be dismantled — destroy and collect before the wreck sinks.
Running your own Valheim server
A boat is a group asset that lives at a coastline, which only works if the coastline is still there next session with the boat moored where you left it. A gamever Valheim server keeps one persistent world running for up to 10 players, with one-click backups protecting a Drakkar that cost a Mistlands expedition to build.
Conclusion
Valheim's four boats span an enormous range. The Raft (300 hull, no storage, 3.1 m/s) is a disposable river crossing. The Karve (500 hull, 4 slots, 7.0 m/s) is the first boat that can carry anything, gated behind 80 bronze nails, and the one most likely to be lost to a Serpent. The Longship (1,000 hull, 18 slots, 9.5 m/s) is the metal-hauling workhorse, needing 100 iron nails and 40 ancient bark. And the Drakkar (3,000 hull, 32 slots, 9 seats) is the only hull that survives the Ashlands' boiling water, at the cost of Yggdrasil wood and Ceramic plate. Two facts change how you sail all of them: cargo weight has no effect on speed or handling, so never travel light, and anyone can Hold Fast to the mast regardless of seats, so the whole group rides.
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