COURSE OVERVIEW

WATERWAY SECTIONS

TURNS

BOARDING PLATFORMS

BOAT LOADERS

DROPS / JUMPS

With the advent of Minecraft version 1.8+, boats are more fragile than ever, such that the 'classic' waterway transportation system (variations on the EATS 'boat road') now have high boat failure rates, particularly at loaders and corners. Below is one approach toward creating a waterway transportation system that minimizes contact damage (and the potential for 'critical hits') to the boat as it progresses through the course.Four aspects of the classic boat road have been modified in the creation of this design:(1) The boat is no longer 'pinned down' by either ladders or slabs, but is instead allowed to free-float. While this reduces the overall speed of the boat through the course, it greatly reduces the accumulation of contact damage to the boat.(2) The sides of the boat are only permitted to contact panes, rails, and signs. This is due to the fact that when a boat now contacts a normal-sized solid block of material on either its side or front, it causes severe damage and frequently shatters the boat entirely, no matter how gently encountered. Unfortunately, this new property also seems to apply to door-gates and other latching mechanisms. Note that the bottom of a boat will also suffer damage when it encounters a solid block, although not to the same degree of sensitivity as the sides.(3) Reverse water currents ('water brakes') are always used upon entry into either a turn or a boarding platform (described below).(4) Waer source columns ('buoyancy lifts') are used in all turns and boarding platforms (also described below).The waterway course used to test these ideas was built in Single-Player Creative Mode and is 450 blocks in traveled length, containing 6 right turns, 2 left turns, and three large drops / jumps for fun (boats can still fall intact from great height, as long as they land in water).The basic waterway section is six blocks long and one block wide, using panes or rails on both side to contain the water and direct the boat downstream. Each water segment consists of a source block, three current blocks, and a one-block deep water sink. This is followed by a bare segment with a sign on the side, to direct flow from a subsequent water source block away from the preceding sink.Although shorter water segments are possible, the longer (5-6 block) segments are prefered because they reduce the number of bare (sign-occupied) blocks that have to be traversed by the boat. For the most part, a boat that has either its front or back (bow or stern) supported by a water-occupied block will not suffer damage passing over a single bare block, but occasionally damage does occur, especially when the boat is moving slowly. The longer waterway sections also produce higher boat speeds in this unpinned-boat design.In this design, turns use a 2X2 stationary pool as the base, with the two, non-traveled water blocks placed on the outside of the turn, and enclosed in a 4X4 tower constructed of glass panes. The inlet into the stationary pool consists of a three-block long, reverse current water-brake, composed of two current blocks and a water sink, using the 2X2 sttationary pool as the water source. Signs are used to contain a water source-block column placed on the corner directly across from the entryway, at least 3-4 blocks high. The uppermost water source-block in this column feeds the first section of new waterway, either at its same (elevated) level, or via a one-segment long spillway (formed by the edge of the glass-pane tower) back to the original waterway's level. Both right and left turns are illustrated below. This design can also be applied to a straignt lift, without a turn.Boardning platforms are identical to turn towers with a drop to the same level as the originating waterway, except that the uppermost water source in the buoyancy lift is prevented from spilling over the exit by a sign. In this setup, the boat will rise to the top of the column and sit there, waiting to be exited or boarded as the case may be. Upon boarding, the user then 'pushes off' (presses 'W' momentarily) in the direction of the drop in order to get the boat moving down the course. In order to exit the boat cleanly, a minecart is placed close (within 3 blocks) of the boat at the top of the column, with the player right-clicking the minecart in order to exit the boat without pushing off the boat down the course accidentally. In addition to being placed at a turn, boarding platforms can also be placed along a straight section of waterway (both a turned and straight boarding platform are shown below)..This simple arrangement is admittedly not a very satisfying, especially for someone used to setting up complex redstone circuitry for minecart stations. Further experimentation is in order.In keeping with this no contact design, boat loaders consist of a simple, 3X3 stationary pool exiting into a current stream 4-6 blocks in length and ending in a water sink. Boats are placed (facing downstream) into the middle of this stationaary pool from a platform placed in the upstream direction. A boat loading pool can be placed either above a long stretch of waterway sections, or beneath a drop (such as one following a lift-turn), with the uppermost waterway prevented from pouring into the pool or waterway below by either a sink or letting it run out to its 7-block limit.One bit of fun that remains to our overly fragile boats is their ability to survive a drop from great height into water. Since turns and boarding platforms require lifts anyway, enjoy the resulting drops wherever possible.