In Raft, rope is one of the most important resources you can collect (or craft for yourself). You need it to create several tools in the game: like hooks and paddles. These are extremely vital tools for gathering resources and traveling between islands. Yet, like most things in a survival game like Raft, rope isn’t clearly outlined in terms of how to craft it or where to find it. So let’s take a look at the best sources for new players still searching for this basic resource!
How to Craft Rope in Raft
“Resource” is the operative word. In Raft, rope can be created simply using two Palm Leaves from your inventory. You can find the recipe in the Resources section of your crafting menu — which you bring up by pressing the TAB key on the keyboard. Look for the icon shaped like a metal screw. Rope is the very first crafting option in this menu and unlocks right at the beginning of any Raft save. No blueprints or Research Table required!
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, this simply requires two Palm Leaves in your inventory. You can find a single Palm Leaf floating on its own in the water around your ship. Just use your starting Plastic Hook to bring it in and pick it up! You can also find a Palm Leaf bundle — which provides two or three units of the resource all at once. These look just like regular palm leaves (big and green and… leafy). They simply float in larger clumps together. This has been true for a while and remains that way in Raft version 1.0.
Where to Find Rope in Raft
Like any other resource in Raft, of course, you can also find rope in more places than just your crafting log. For instance: floating inside barrels and crates. These appear in the ocean just like standard planks, plastic, and leaves. The only differences are that barrels and crates are rarer and usually contain many more goodies than just one resource. Usually, they hold several different varieties of random items for you to collect. Though you can pull them in with any hook.
Occasionally, the goodies inside include preconstructed rope! Though they might also contain a Palm Leaf or five for you to craft rope with yourself. It’s pretty much random, so you just need to keep trying if you rely on this route.
Also, while it’s a very minor trick, note that you can only hold Palm Leaves in stacks of up to 20 per inventory slot. Rope also stacks and is a consumable resource (in the sense that items like the Plastic Hook and Paddle break over time, requiring more rope to create spares). This means you can safely free up inventory space by turning Palm Leaves into, you guessed it, more rope. Assuming you already have some rope to begin with, of course.
For example, if you have one unit of rope and 21 Palm Leaves (split across two stacks), you can craft another piece of rope. This automatically goes into the first stack, while reducing the total number of Palm Leaves to 19. That’s small enough for one stack — leaving you with an extra inventory space. You’re going to need that rope later anyway, so you might as well make more to free up storage!
Obviously, this same trick works with basically any item or resource in Raft. Just be smart about what you craft more of at one time. You probably don’t need six dozen cups, for instance. This makes intermediate crafting materials — like rope, bricks, or even Vine Goo — perfect candidates for stuff to build and keep your inventory open.
And that’s it for our guide to rope in Raft. We hope this helps you sail the seas just a little bit faster and safer than before. In the video game raft, just to be clear. Not with a real-life. If you somehow get caught on a deserted island, I’m afraid you might be on your own.
