How do I collect rain water while on a raft?

[rhwilson1953]

Rain collectors are as worthless as tits on a boar, dew collectors can not be tied down on a raft and buckets / pots slide off into the deep blue sea.

I started a journey to find a new cluster. In my starting cluster the north-western island had 2 standing totems, one facing south to the next island and the other facing north. Using the compass and map there were no islands to be found in the north. So, I started with 2 full barrels of fresh water and 14 medium bottles of water. 200 bananas split between dried and fresh, 100 papaya split between dried and fresh, 50 dried salted meat, 25 dried unsalted meat, 50 dried salted salmon and 25 dried unsalted salmon, 7 bread and cheese of various weights. I have to eat my fill once a day but drinking needs to be done at 2 to 4 times per day, I imagine because of the heat during the day.

I'm going north for 4 days before getting the leaving the cluster notice. I think great, now I can use fast travel. Nope, having to eat, sleep and especially drinking several times a day doesn't allow for 12 hours of fast travel.

On the 5th day I see a flock of birds flying straight ahead so I take out the compass and check and verify I'm still heading north. Once a day for 6 days I see the flocks of birds flying north, checking each time whether I'm still heading that direction. I don't see any flocks on the 7th and 8th days, then on the 9th day the birds are flying south-east. Remembering what has been said in other threads about following the flocks I turn my raft to the south-east. So now I follow the flocks south-east for 4 days then suddenly the next day the birds are flying back towards the west.

By the way, I'm down to 3/4 barrel of fresh water after adding the bottled water to it because it's easier to find the barrel in the dark rather than risking walking off the raft.

Now what do I do as it seems like I'll be going in circles if I turn to follow the dang birds.

[walrus3ks]

You can put buckets and pots onto large self-built crates that are attached to the raft. (those crates that need 2 palmfronds to build)

The buckets and pots won't slide off the crate. With my 7 buckets, from one heavy rain on the ocean, I get almost a full barrel of fresh water.

It's a good idea to stop the raft while you collect rain on the ocean.

As for the birds: The birds-mechanic works well as long as you don't fast sail. I've had the same issues when I was using fast sailing.

You can safely use fast sailing until you find birds, then switch to normal sailing and follow the birds to the cluster. That always worked fine for me.

[SourHammer]

So when your on the raft, there is no real way to collect water. I store all of my water in bottles because then it lasts forever. In the barrel it decays pretty quick until you cant drink it any more. The more decayed the water gets, the more it takes health away just to cure your thirst. At current I probly have 2 full barrels worth of water squirreled away in bottles that I have in crates. You need to have several crates for food and water.
Also if your on your raft in between clusters, use the sextant daily at noon to find your location on the ocean in relation to the last cluster you were in. Since side drifting is a thing, you can maintain a northern heading but the raft may be slipping east or west due to winds and other factors. That is why its important to figure out how the sextant works so you can track your position in relation to the last cluster. Good luck and keep at it , once you figure it all out it makes alot of sense. I dont even stop at all the islands in a cluster any more, If Im low on food or minerals or water I will stop at replenish those, but then just continue on to the next cluster. Maybe as they add more content I will do more exploration, but at present Im just honing my skills on the open ocean

[SourHammer]

Originally posted by walrus3ks:

You can put buckets and pots onto large self-built crates that are attached to the raft. (those crates that need 2 palmfronds to build)

The buckets and pots won't slide off the crate. With my 7 buckets, from one heavy rain on the ocean, I get almost a full barrel of fresh water.

It's a good idea to stop the raft while you collect rain on the ocean.

As for the birds: The birds-mechanic works well as long as you don't fast sail. I've had the same issues when I was using fast sailing.

You can safely use fast sailing until you find birds, then switch to normal sailing and follow the birds to the cluster. That always worked fine for me.

What game are you playing, If I put buckets or pots down on anything other than a stone around the inside campfire , they will slide off. They do not stay put on the crates in my game. And the only way to put them on a stone is to put salt water or somthing to cook in them.

[walrus3ks]

Originally posted by SourHammer:

What game are you playing, If I put buckets or pots down on anything other than a stone around the inside campfire , they will slide off. They do not stay put on the crates in my game. And the only way to put them on a stone is to put salt water or somthing to cook in them.

If you want, I can make an ingame video to show that my buckets don't slide off the big crates. Also floors and roofs will keep them in place on the raft. Only placing a bucket directly on the raft where there is no floor or roof makes them slide away. As I said, this only works well when the raft is not in motion.

[walrus3ks]

Btw, the downside of putting floors onto the raft is that you cannot attach anything with ropes anymore. But there's a solution to that, too: You can attach crates and stuff to the raft BEFORE placing the floor, and after attaching the stuff you can still place the floor.

[walrus3ks]

oh, and a drop of fresh water will refresh the whole water in a barrel when it's starting to rot and you lose health when drinking from it. So if you collect one cup of rainwater and fill it into the barrel, the whole barrel will be OK again for some time.

[SourHammer]

Originally posted by walrus3ks:

Originally posted by SourHammer:

What game are you playing, If I put buckets or pots down on anything other than a stone around the inside campfire , they will slide off. They do not stay put on the crates in my game. And the only way to put them on a stone is to put salt water or somthing to cook in them.

If you want, I can make an ingame video to show that my buckets don't slide off the big crates. Also floors and roofs will keep them in place on the raft. Only placing a bucket directly on the raft where there is no floor or roof makes them slide away. As I said, this only works well when the raft is not in motion.

Ok I get what your saying, if you stop moving the raft yes you can set them down, but ultimately they will not stay there if you move the raft. Or if there is a strong storm and the raft is being moved around by waves they will slide off. Most times it rains, for me any ways the waves are washing over the crates and every thing i have. If I had pots they would wash off even if not moving.

[walrus3ks]

Originally posted by SourHammer:

Originally posted by walrus3ks:

Ok I get what your saying, if you stop moving the raft yes you can set them down, but ultimately they will not stay there if you move the raft. Or if there is a strong storm and the raft is being moved around by waves they will slide off. Most times it rains, for me any ways the waves are washing over the crates and every thing i have. If I had pots they would wash off even if not moving.

True that. It's not working very well, but at least it's working a little bit. I make a lot of savegames when I collect rain, and in case buckets get lost, I reload.

But a better way of having fresh water on the ocean is to have some barrels with you and also have some fresh water in bottles, so you can always put some fresh water from the bottle into the barrel to make the whole barrel good again.

[SourHammer]

Originally posted by walrus3ks:

Originally posted by SourHammer:

True that. It's not working very well, but at least it's working a little bit. I make a lot of savegames when I collect rain, and in case buckets get lost, I reload.

But a better way of having fresh water on the ocean is to have some barrels with you and also have some fresh water in bottles, so you can always put some fresh water from the bottle into the barrel to make the whole barrel good again.

I have not tried that yet, it doesnt make sense to me that 1 unit of water would replenish 90 units of soured water. That is a game changer though since I have several crates full of bottled water it would save alot of room for other stuff.

[walrus3ks]

yep, it's not making a lot of sense :D

and yes, it saves a lot of room, I only have one crate with bottled water on my raft that I use to refresh my barrels.