Today’s post focuses on Rafts and small boats like Kayaks and Canoes. The defining trait of such vessels is that while they can have sails, their primary motive power derives from the use of oars or paddles.

It’s taken quite a bit longer than I intended, due to a fundamental truism of publishing, at least to Campaign Mastery: Tables Take Time – and this post needed 9,877 lines of hand-coded HTML tables, completely on top of the effort needed to generate the content of those tables.

Even now, I’m more than a little concerned that Table 3 has too many columns and may need to be split in two – a task that there is not enough time to complete prior to deadline. But we’ll see how we go – if you’re reading these words, then all is well; if I’ve had to rewrite them, you’ll be reading about that, instead!

Table Of Contents: In part one of this chapter:

Chapter 4: Modes Of Transport

4.0 A Word about Routes

4.0.1 Baseline Model
4.0.2 Relative Sizes
4.0.3 Competitors
4.0.4 Terrain I
4.0.5 Terrain II
4.0.6 Multi-paths and Choke Points

4.0.6.1 Sidebar: Projection Of Military Force

4.0.7 Mode Of Transport

4.1 Backpack / Litters / Shanks Pony

4.1.1 Capacity
4.1.2 Personalities / Roleplay

4.2 Horseback

4.2.1 Capacity
4.2.2 Requirements
4.2.3 Personalities / Roleplay

4.3 Mule Train

4.3.1 Capacity
4.3.2 Requirements
4.3.3 Personalities / Roleplay

4.4 Wagons

4.4.1 Capacity
4.4.2 Requirements
4.4.3 Other Exceptions – Animal Size

4.4.3.1 Sidebar: Road Trains

4.4.4 Fodder / Food & Water Needs

4.4.4.1 People
4.4.4.2 Horses
4.4.4.3 Mules
4.4.4.4 Oxen / Cattle
4.4.4.5 Elephants
4.4.4.6 Other

4.4.5 Personalities / Roleplay

In Part 2:

4.5 River Boats & Barges

4.5.0 A Splice Of Maritime History

4.5.0.1 Dugouts & Canoes
4.5.0.2 Rafts
4.5.0.3 Boats
4.5.0.4 Poled Rafts & Barges
4.5.0.5 Oars
4.5.0.6 Land-based motive power
4.5.0.7 Sail
4.5.0.8 Better Sails
4.5.0.9 Trading Ships
4.5.0.10 Warships & Pirates
4.5.0.11 Beyond the age of sail
4.5.0.12 Riverboats
4.5.0.13 Sources

4.5.1 Riverboat Capacity
4.5.2 Favorable Winds

4.5.2.1 The Beaufort Wind Scale

4.5.3 Favorable Currents
4.5.4 Unfavorable Winds / Currents – Oarsmen Requirements
4.5.5 Unfavorable Winds / Currents – Sail Solutions
4.5.6 Extreme Weather Events
4.5.7 The Tempest Scale
4.5.8 Vessel Rating
4.5.9 Weather Cataclysms

In today’s post:

4.6 Rafts

4.6.1 Rowing Time & Exhaustion
4.6.2 The basics of vector sums

4.6.2.1 An Example
4.6.2.2 A better example
4.6.2.3 With Maths
4.6.2.4 Simplified Vector Sums
4.6.2.5 Multi-hour Vector Sums


4.6.3 Raft Design & Operation

4.6.3.1 Buoyancy
4.6.3.2 Raft Calculation Process
4.6.3.3 Why all this matters
4.6.3.4 Category 1 Raft Table
4.6.3.5 Category 2 Raft Table
4.6.3.6 Category 3 Raft Table
4.6.3.7 Category 4 Raft Tables
4.6.3.8 Category 5 Raft Tables
4.6.3.9 Category 6 Raft Tables


4.6.4 Overloaded Rafts
4.6.5 Raft Breakup
4.6.6 Construction Time
4.6.7 A final word on Overloading Capacities

4.7 Canoes etc

4.7.1 Proportions
4.7.2 Frontal Dimension
4.7.3 Base Speed

And next:

4.8 Seagoing Vessels

4.8.1 Capacity
4.8.2 Favorable Winds
4.8.3 Favorable Currents
4.8.4 Unfavorable Winds / Currents – Oarsmen Requirements
4.8.5 Unfavorable Winds / Currents – Sail Solutions
4.8.6 Extreme Weather Events
4.8.7 Vessel Rating
4.8.8 Weather Cataclysms

4.9 Exotic Modes Of Transport

4.9.1 Flight
4.9.2 Teleport
4.9.3 Magic Gates & Portals
4.9.4 Capacities

In future chapters:

5. Land Transport
6. Waterborne Transport
7. Spoilage
8. Key Personnel
9. The Journey
10. Arrival
11. Journey’s End
12. Adventures En Route

The main Image is based on China Raft by Emma from Pixabay with additions made using copy, paste, blend, etc to aid the composition.

4.6 Rafts

So far as this system is concerned, vessels come in three main types – rafts,. canoes & rowboats, and ships. Further, canoes and the like can be treated as a special sub-type of Raft, enabling a common set of rules for the definition of their traits and characteristics.
.
For this reason, Canoes and any other form of vessel whose primary motive power comes from oars or poles, are considered a sub-variety of rafts, though I have separated them out into a small section of their own.

I have to stress that these are not the pleasure-rafts that many people grew up with. These are rafts designed and assembled to be able to handle sea travel. They have to be sturdier, heavier, and better built than the home craft created by lashing a few branches together. There will be some overlap but it won’t be as great as you might think.

It should also be pointed out that a raft of 10 square meters or more is enormous! In modern times, we’re used to thinking of large life rafts of this size that can hold anywhere from fifty to a couple of hundred people while they await rescue; the larger end of this range of rafts are of comparable size, but made of timber, not inflated plastic. That makes a pretty huge difference. So much so that it’s fair to expect the upper end of these craft to only exist in a fantasy world.

4.6.1 Rowing Time & Exhaustion

Crews can row for 2 hrs maximum before resting for at least 1 hour.

If need be, a tired crew can continue for another hour, but will only achieve 3/4 of their normal speed. This hour also has to then be added on to their recovery time, which increases to two hours.

A further hour at 1/2 speed then becomes possible, but this ads 2 more hours to the recovery time.

An exhausted crew can manage one last hour at 1/4 speed, at the price of needing +2 more hours recovery.

It can be helpful to visualize this in terms of distance covered, rather than speed:



I’m sorry that the diagram is hard to read, it was a lot harder to fit everything in than I thought it was going to be.

Two hours rowing and 1 of rest is clearly the most efficient unless you have a second crew to take over the rowing while the first one rests.

But, if 3 hrs rowing will carry you to a destination, it’s worth keeping on, even though the crew will need additional rest at the end of it.

Two hours rowing, 1 of rest, and another hour of rowing get you 12x in distance (where x is 1/4 of your best speed). So there are only two circumstances where you might contemplate a fourth straight hour of rowing – where you are attempting to outrun some threat (an enemy, a hurricane, whatever), or where the additional total distance (13x compared to 12x) was enough to get to a destination.

Only the first of those scenarios justifies a fifth hour of rowing – and even then, the distance covered by a 2 row, 1 rest, 2 row pattern is actually greater. It’s that hour of rest that is the critical deciding factor – if the menace is so imminent that you don’t think you can afford that delay, then pushing on beyond the point of exhaustion if necessary, is the only option.

4.6.2 The basics of vector sums

There are three factors that control the movement of vessels: currents, rowing, and wind.

If you have no sails, wind is 1/4 effect. If you have no rowers, but rely on sails for motive power, wind has 4x effect.

To chart the actual motion of a vessel, you need to convert these into the same units and then perform a vector sum operation.

A vector is “speed in a specific direction”. To perform a vector sum, you simply mark out a straight line in the indicated direction that is of a length that corresponds to the speed on whatever scale you’re using. And that makes it sound much more complicated than it really is.

But we complicate matters by then remembering that most of the time, we want to proceed in a specific direction, not simply track what direction we are actually traveling.

To make life simpler, I recommend using “X” as the units – which is a distance per hour equal to 1/4 of your best speed. So if your best speed is 4 mph, you would use mph as your unit scale; if your best speed was 6 mph, you would use units of 1.5 mph.

4.6.2.1 An example

Currents in this part of the world flows 30 degrees to the east of due north at a speed of 6 knots. Winds are currently averaging 14 knots from 20 degrees south of east. Your vessel’s best speed is 4.6 mph.

For a first take, let’s assume we head due west at full speed for an hour.

     1. 6 knots = 6.90467 mph.
     2. 14 knots = 16.1109 mph.
     3. Units = 1/4 of 4.6 = 1.15 mph.
     4. Current = 6.90467 / 1.15 = 6.004 units.
     5. Wind (no sails) = 16.1109 / 4 / 1.15 = 3.502 units.
     6. Hourly vector sum:
     6.1 Currents, 6 units 30°E of N
     6.2 Winds, 3.5 units 20°N of W
     Net effect: almost exactly Due North
     6.3 Rowing: 4 units due West
     6.4 Vector Sum: 33.7°W of North at 7.6 units

6.1 – 6.4 are illustrated below. Each step starts where the last one ends.



4.6.2.2 A better example

The above is all well and good if you actually wanted to travel roughly 35 degrees West of North.

If, as seems more likely, you actually wanted to head due west, the conclusion from the first example is that it isn’t possible – rowing due south would result in a measurable drift north and very little westerly progress.

So, a second example: Same currents, but winds are now 22 knots 20°South of West, and instead of calculating where we would end up by rowing due west, let’s actually try and head due west.

     1. 6 knots = 6.90467 mph.
     2. 22 knots = 25.3171 mph.
     3. Units = 1/4 of 4.6 = 1.15 mph.
     4. Current = 6.90467 / 1.15 = 6.004 units.
     5. Wind (no sails) = 25.3171 / 4 / 1.15 = 4.22 units.
     6. Hourly vector sum:
     6.1 Currents, 6 units 30°E of N
     6.2 Winds, 3.5 units 20°S of W
     Net effect: Drift Movement is mostly North with a slight Westerly element.



From this point, the two examples differ in procedure as well as details.

6.3 From the endpoint of 6.2, drop a southerly line. Since our initial travel is 4 units an hour, draw a circle 4 units in radius. Anywhere on (or in) that circle is reachable with 4 units of rowing. Note that the circle must cut the original line to the west for “Due West” to be a valid outcome. In this example, that is true, but by so little that it’s easy to see why a slight shift in the wind vector was enough to prevent it.
This redefines the objective – we want the vector that cancels out the Northern tendency as efficiently as possible (so that unused movement can be added to the resulting westward drift). That’s what the circle defines for us – at the point where it crosses the east-west line.

6.4 Draw a line from the endpoint of 6.2 through the point where the circle crosses the East-West line. That is the vector direction (we already know the length, 4 units, by definition). I measure that as 27.5° degrees West of South.

The net effect is that the combination of currents and winds move us 1 unit west, and the rowers – after overcoming the tendency to drift north – add another 2 units of motion in that direction. So this particular arrangement is a net 75% efficient.

4.6.2.3 With Maths

It’s possible to use trigonometry to take each of these vectors apart into a North-South component and an East-West component. We know the length of the hypotenuse of the triangle each makes with its starting point and either the angle or 90° minus the angle. Naturally, this is a lot more precise, and if people want or need to go to that much trouble to be precise, more power to them.

4.6.2.4 Simplified Vector Sums

Except in extraordinary circumstances, though, that’s wasted effort chasing unnecessary precision. Heck, even the examples I’ve given above are overkill, only relevant for explaining the technique to someone who has never seen it before.

Do you really think that despite the craft being in motion, with a component of that motion not coming from the elements, that the current it experiences won’t change in the course of an hour? That the winds won’t change direction, or intensity, or – more likely – both? That the wave-tossed craft permits a precise course to be set?

Every value used is an estimated average over the course of the hour. And the ‘estimated’ part restricts the level of precision. In real life, then, this is closer to what I would do:



Vector Directions are about right, and so are quantities. That gets me to the endpoint of 6.2 in 2 calculations and 2 strokes of the pencil – usually with a ruler, but sometimes I won’t even bother with that.

I don’t need the whole circle, either – just the arc, which I can get using the ruler – set the 0 measurement on the 6.2 endpoint and rotate it until the 4 crosses the east-west line. Mark that point and estimate the angle – using the ruler as a temporary north-south line or east-west line. By eye, even without that, I can say that the line is something close to 30 degrees west of south – and the 2.5° difference to the real error is small enough to be swallowed by the other sources of error.

4.6.2.5 Multi-hour Vector Sums

That simplicity is needed because most of the time, one hour won’t be enough to get you where you want to go, as noted earlier. Below are four diagrams, each covering 5 hours of time in different ways, and comparing the net results of each.

The first is obviously the most effective – Five hours continuous rowing, spread amongst two crews (so that each has time to rest while the other rows).

Hour 1: as per Example 2 above. Rowers make some gains to the west but spend most of their efforts combating drift.

Hour 2: Current slightly more northerly and noticeably weaker. Winds weaker and more westerly. Rowers gain even more to the west, but still spend most of their efforts opposing the drift.

Hour 3: Current slightly stronger and more northerly. Winds due West. Rowers spend the entirety of their efforts opposing the current’s northward push, with less than complete success. The only westward movement is from the wind.

Hour 4 Current weaker but more westerly; winds much weaker, but more Northerly. Rowing is the same as Hour 3, and is almost enough to maintain an overall westerly heading.

Hour 5: Current weaker and more westerly, Winds much stronger and more Northerly. Rowers efforts now have to oppose both wind and current, and don’t even come close to complete success.

The chart below the vector sums is what you get when you plot each hour’s end-point. In total, the 5 hours of continuous rowing carried the craft 14.25 units westward (desirable) and 2 units north (undesired). Still, being within only 3 miles (2 units) of the desired destination isn’t bad – wind changes and weaker currents near the coast should permit that to be overcome.



The second figure adjusts the first insofar as it shows the effects of a single crew doing all that rowing, until – at the end of the five hours – they have reached the point of total exhaustion.



Hours 1 and 2 are unchanged.

Hour 3, the rowers only manage three units of movement, and finish considerably more North of the comparative position.

Hour 4 only amplifies the drift to the north,, but they do manage some progress.

Hour 5, and they are really helpless to battle the conditions. In fact they make so little headway that they might have been better off using that hour to rest – it would not have been enough to restore them to full effectiveness, but it would have reduced the need by an hour,.

But, when you measure it out, the crew manage the exact same 14.25 units west – at the price of being pushed 8.5 units north of due west. As usual, if that’s where they really wanted to go, the Navigator is a genius – and if not, he’s close to worthless, or so it might seem to the unhappy crew.

Which brings me to the third figure, below. Instead of forcing the crew to keep rowing, this lets the craft drift while they rest in Hour 3. In Hour 4, they just about master the conditions, halting the northward drift, but in Hour 5 the combination gangs up on them. If, In hour 6, the currents shift to due west or close to it – a bigger shift than has been seen so far – or simply weaken to the point of near insignificance (more likely), the crew would probably be able to hold their losses in a third continuous hour of rowing; they wouldn’t get much further to the west, but they would get maybe a unit more, while not losing anything more to the north.



Again, when you measure it out, you end up with a total westward movement of 14.25 units – something that I doubt people would believe if the diagrams weren’t right there in front of them.

The total northward drift is only 5.6 units – if a unit is 1.5 miles, that’s about 8 1/2 miles in total. I’ve left the “8.5 unit” mark from the previous example to give visual reference for the gains – about 1/3 of the losses are wiped out, and the crew may be tired but they are nowhere near exhausted. Should conditions then change into something more favorable, they could easily regain those 5.6 units in an hour or two.



To round out this section, there is one more scenario worth considering – the one where whoever’s doing the navigating is too clever by half and decides that if a slight drift north is inevitable, they should aim to push south of their destination while they are able.

The figure above shows the results. In total, the crew manage to move about 0.6 units south – but that’s still enough to wipe out twice that much in northward drift. The craft will end the 5 hours about 1.25 miles north of their intended destination.

But what this really illustrates is how you don’t need a lot of precision in your vector sums. Note that this would have negligible impact under either of the other scenarios – resting or one crew working to exhaustion – and that it sacrifices quite a lot of Westerly movement in the process. If the craft was 14.25 units east of port, they will still be 3.35 units out to sea at the end of the five hours. With the first crew only half-way through their second stint at the oars, if conditions are favorable, they might get there in another hour – but if they aren’t much different, the change in final-hour movement will be negligible; they will end up in something close to the same position as the basic two-crew 5-hour continuous rowing result, they’ll just have sweated through an extra hour of hard work for no good reason.

4.6.3 Raft Design & Operation

Rafts are either square or (effectively) rectangular (outriggers don’t count). They have a maximum length to width of 8:5 and a minimum width of 1 foot. If they fall outside those dimensions, they have to be considered a canoe-type vessel.



Generally, the squarer they are, the more stable, and the greater the surface area relative to the length of the sides. However, even square rafts are unstable if too small.

Adding length makes the craft stable front-to-back at some speed – the longer the craft, the lower this speed tends to be. However, if they are too narrow, they remain prone to roll fro one side to the other, sometimes at the slightest provocation. Some sports take advantage of this fact to create single-person craft that are more maneuverable. At that stable speed, even the sideways roll tends to be reduced, so they are only ‘somewhat unstable’ or ‘slightly unstable’.

Increase the size of a square design sufficiently, and it becomes stable in both directions once again. There comes a point at which a new factor becomes increasingly important – the interval between wave crests and troughs. These create, corner to corner or front to back or side-to-side stress that tries to tear the raft apart – which one depends on the angle of motion relative to the direction of the waves, and the line of stress will be at right angles to the direction of the waves relative to the raft.

There are construction techniques that increase the strength of rafts, such as using whole logs for the entire length of the raft. The downside is that as these gain resilience, they also gain weight, and the latter faster than the former (because weight is based n volume and the structural resilience on the cross-sectional area). The rules below will assume that a raft has always been designed in the optimum manner.

Crew that aren’t rowing, provisions, tools, and salvaged cargo occupy the central space. Cargo etc is handled by weight, with the average crewman assigned a nominal weight of 200 lb – so 1 ton of ‘extras’ reduces a raft’s capacity by (1 short ton / 200 lb) crew carried.

It may be possible to rig a small sail on a raft, handling this is left to the GM to improv. No raft will ever be faster than Incredibly Slow.

Above the largest size indicated, the weight of load required to hold a raft together is enough to overcome its buoyancy and it will sink, unless magic is somehow used to prevent this – I leave such variations in the capable hands of the individual GM and their creativity.

4.6.3.1 Buoyancy

Which means that I had better explain buoyancy before I go much further.

Buoyancy is not quite as simple a subject as people think. To explain it more fully, especially with reference to the different configurations of raft permitted under the rules above, I’ve out together the diagram below (I didn’t really want to, but judged it to be necessary).



Water and sky derive from Message In A Bottle from Pixabay.

In the diagram above, we first have a raft consisting of a single row of logs – this is the basic design that most people will immediately think of when hearing the term “raft”. The critical design factor is always the strength with which those logs are held in line – try picking up a number of pencils at the same time, and they will naturally bunch up; viewed end-on, the natural shape is round. That’s what the logs in a raft try to do, too; so they tend to be weaker side-to-side than front-to-back IF single logs / beams run the entire length of the raft.

Typically the buoyancy of wood is only a little more than the force of gravity trying to pull them down. But there is a second buoyancy factor – the resistance to being submerged. This is (essentially) additional buoyancy that only comes into effect when a log is actually submerged. So the raft rides the waves with the upper surface not far above the waterline – and waves will regularly break over that waterline, and the sides of a raft, especially at sea.

Adding a second row of logs doesn’t increase the native buoyancy by much because it also increases the weight. But it does reinforce the strength, and it does increase the secondary buoyancy because the weight forces the bottom row of logs under the surface. As a result, the raft rides a little higher, and is a lot stronger.

The buoyancy can be further increased by hollowing out some or all of the logs, even though this compromises their strength somewhat. This not only reduces the weight but increases the buoyancy and resistance, to the point where the upper row of logs may be completely above the waterline.

Adding a third row increases the weight again, but also increases buoyancy, resistance, and strength. As a result, far greater loads can be supported.

One might think that adding a fourth row would also bring about an improvement, but there are a number of complications – not least of which is that you will now have up-down stresses also trying to tear the raft apart, and reinforcement to prevent this essentially takes you back to the two-log situation, even if the logs are hollowed, or worse. There’s a limit to how far you can go.

Overcoming that limit involves using beams and caulking to seal gaps and removing the logs from the center of the raft – at which point it ceases to be a raft and becomes a ship.

4.6.3.2 Raft Calculation Process

In the course of developing the tables given below, a structured process of raft specification emerged. I wasn’t going to bother sharing this, just the results, but then realized that GMs would need to understand the basis for the different restrictions and limitations placed on rafts.

1. Area in sq feet

This is the key characteristic specified by the person creating the raft.

2. Area in sq meters.

Divide by 10.764 to get area in square meters.

3. (area sq m) ^ 0.5 = minimum rowers per side to achieve full speed.

4. (area sq ft) ^ 0.5 / 3 = minimum width (‘).

5. Creator specifies actual width of this raft.

6. (area sq ft) / min width = length (‘)

7. length / 2 and round down = maximum rowers on each side.

It’s possible for this to be higher than the maximum possible number of people on board (= area /2, see [18] below). This indicates insufficient buoyancy to carry the indicated number of rowers.

This requires a design adjustment – either increasing the buoyancy through [8] below, or reducing the number of pairs of rowers, or both.

8. 5.5 m^2 – 8 m^2 – double row of logs needed. 8.1- 16 m^2 – triple row needed. Above 4 m^2, these are usually hollowed out and the ends sealed to create a buoyancy chamber. Multiply the indicated # of rows by 0.75 if logs are hollowed to get a timber multiplier (value of 1 if not specified).

Hollow Logs reduce the weight of the craft. Additional Rows of logs effectively reduce the effective weight for the purposes of [17] as well.

9. If you have the less than the minimum # of rowers, base speed is 0 and you are at the mercy of the currents. If you have the exact minimum #, actual speed is 10% base speed. If you have the maximum # of rowers indicated then you achieve 100% of base speed. If you have something in between, use

     100 x (rowers – min) / (max – min)

to get the % of base speed this particular raft is capable of. Don’t worry about being too precise, there are too many fudge factors under GM control for this to be anything more than a guideline.

10. ( [7]-[3] ) x 5 = extra base speed from additional rowers (%).

11. width (‘) x 2 + 0.1 and round up = minimum number of logs in a row.

It’s usually more convenient & realistic to round up to the next even number, but sometimes I’ll increase the # of logs to a multiple of 3 (for 3′, 6′, 9′, and 12′ widths). The higher this number, the smaller the diameter of the trees used. This sets the maximum diameter of those trees to 0.5 m (1’ 7.7″) which is quite a big tree.

12. [5] x 5 = base speed lost to water resistance (-%). x0.87 if logs are hollowed, x 1.414 for two rows of logs, x 1.732 for three rows of logs

13. width (‘) / number of logs in a row = average diameter of logs used (‘)

Big trees are heavier than smaller ones but have more buoyancy. If you want that level of realism, you can decide the actual average diameter of the trees used and multiply both weight and capacity by the ratio of (actual / calculated); I’ve simply used the calculated value 99% of the time.

14. Area (sq ft) x log width x [8] = volume of wood in cubic feet.

14a. / 31.315 = volume of wood in cubic meters.

Area is the net of two axes of the theoretical wooden ‘cube’. Log Width x [8] gives the third axis, depth, so this is as simple as this calculation can be made.

15. Multiply [14a] x 550 = Wt (kg).

Raft weights are calculated using estimated volumes and an assumed density of 550kg/m^3, which is the generally accepted value when it comes to the flotation of raw wood. It is assumed that whole logs were used in the construction. Larger rafts (classes 5 & 6) are assumed to have hollowed cores, reducing the weight 25%. Rafts in classes 4 & 5 assume a double row of tree trunks, class 6, a triple row.

Technically, in multi-row designs, the top row is not hollowed so that it can provide greater support and structural integrity, but I have decided that accuracy in this respect is more trouble than it’s worth. I mention it so that you can adjust the results if you disagree.

16. Although it isn’t actually used in the raft system, comparison to sea vessels needs this weight in long tons. So / 1016 to get this if you need it.

17. Solid Logs: (log [Wt (kg)] / 0.30103 [ / (Rows of Logs) ^ 0.5] x 5 = base speed loss to weight (-%)

17a. Hollow Logs: 0.7071 x Solid Log Value (-%)

All sorts of factors cancel out in this calculation or it would be a lot more complicated.

It’s normal to calculate this two ways – the craft with nothing but rowers (maximum possible speed, shown above) and the value with full weight of passengers / cargo included. The latter is the loss at maximum safe load; when an actual load is determined, it will almost always be something either higher or lower. But this gives a useful guideline.

Steps 18-20 determine the absolute maximum number of people that can be safely aboard the craft and converts that into a maximum safe cargo weight (assuming no passengers).

18. Area (sq ft) * (rows of logs^0.5) / 2 (/ 0.75 if hollow logs) = people aboard (safe limit).

People lying down require about 6 sqr ft of area. People sitting up, knees drawn up a little, need 2 sqr ft. People huddled together need 1 sqr ft each. People standing up and squashed together as closely as possible need 0.75 sq ft each. The system uses 2 sqr ft / person to calculate loads because most people are sitting up when they row, but you can squeeze more onto a raft, overloading it.

19. [18] – (2 x [7]) = passenger space.

20. 200 x [19] = cargo space (kg).

The system uses an average weight of 200 kg per person, representing both the individual, the additional weight of water in wet clothing, arms, equipment, etc. I thought about using a smaller value but found that the system works better when using something close to a ‘worst case’ value.

Note that passengers occupy, and count as, cargo space. [19] is not ‘in addition to’ them, it includes them.

You can squeeze extra people on board a raft in complete safety – if everybody sheds enough weight. It might mean that there isn’t enough room for everyone to sit down at once.

21. [19] / 907.2 to get cargo space in short tons, if needed, or / 1000 to get it in tonnes – whatever makes conversion to trade units most convenient.

22. Raft base speed is based on 3 mph* = 4.828 km/h* = 264 ft/min* = 4.4 ft/sec = 80.47* m/m = 1.34 m/sec. The values marked with an asterisk are the ones most commonly used for practical purposes.

4.6.3.3 Why all this matters:

Nonhumans. Halflings, Ogres, Dwarves, Elves, you name it. Anything that doesn’t fit standard human silhouettes, size, weights, etc

For actual ships, I’ve got a relatively simple solution, it can even cater for mixed-race crews. But for some reason, it just doesn’t work properly for rafts.

That means that GMs are going to have to fudge the adjustments that are necessary for themselves. Earlier chapters have given you all the specifications about the races that you need, and enabled you to customize them to your world. Now you get to put that work to good use.

4.6.3.4 Category 1 Raft Table

Category #		1
Name		Raft / Canoe 1
Area m^2		0.5017	0.65		0.65		0.65	0.799
Area sq ft		5.4	7		7		7	8.6
Width ft		2‘	1‘		1.75‘		2.64’	4‘
Length ft		2.7‘	7‘		4‘		2.65’	4.3‘
Min Rowers		0.22	0.806		0.806		0.806	0.894
Max Rowers		1	1 †	2	1 †	2	1	2
Logs / Row		5	4	4	5	5	6	8
Factor		1	1	0.75	1	0.75	1	1
Row Depth ft		0.4‘	1 / 4‘	1 / 4‘	0.35‘	0.35’	0.4417‘	0.25‘
Volume cu ft		2.16 cu ft	1.75 cu ft	1.31 cu ft	2.45 cu ft	1.84 cu ft	3.092 cu ft	4.3 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		0.069 m^3	0.05 m^3	0.0375 m^3	0.07 m^3	0.06 m^3	0.08756 m^3	0.122 m^3
Wt kg		37.95 kg	27.5 kg	20.625 kg	38.5 kg	33 kg	48.16 kg	67.1 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.0375 lt	0.027 lt	0.02 lt	0.038 lt	0.0325 lt	0.0474 lt	0.066 lt
Max Pass		0.7	1.5	0.67	1.5	0.67	1.5	0.3
Max Cargo kg		140 kg	300 kg	134 kg	300 kg	134 kg	300 kg	60 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		0.15 tons	0.33 tons	0.15 tons	0.33 tons	0.15 tons	0.33 tons	0.07 tons
Max Cargo T		0.14 Tonnes	0.3 Tonnes	0.134 Tonnes	0.3 Tonnes	0.134 Tonnes	0.3 Tonnes	0.06 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+7.8%	+1.94%	+11.94%	+1.94%	+11.94%	+1.94%	+11.06%
Spd Width		-10%	-5%	-4.35%	-8.75%	-7.61%	-13.2%	-20%
Spd Weight		-26.2% – -37.4%	-23.9% – -41.8%	-15.4% – -25.7%	-26.3% – -42%	-17.8% – -26.1%	-27.9% – -42.2%	-30.3% – -34.9%
100+Tot Mod		71.6% – 60.4%	73.04% – 55.14%	92.18% – 81.89%	66.89% – 51.18%	86.53% – 76.23%	60.84% – 46.54%	60.76% – 56.16%
Max Spd	x264	189 ft/min	192.8 ft/min	234.4 ft/min	176.6 ft/min	228.4 ft/min	160.6 ft/min	160.4 ft/min
	/ 3.281	57.62 m/min	58.78 m/min	74.19 m/min	53.83 m/min	69.63 m/min	48.96 m/min	48.89 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.148 mph	2.191 mph	2.766 mph	2.007 mph	2.596 mph	1.825 mph	1.823 mph
	x1.609	3.457 km/h	3.526 km/h	4.451 km/h	3.229 km/h	4.178 km/h	2.937 km/h	2.933 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	159.5 ft/min	145.6 ft/min	216.2 ft/min	135.1 ft/min	206.5 ft/min	122.9 ft/min	148.3 ft/min
	/ 3.281	48.6 m/min	44.37 m/min	65.9 m/min	41.19 m/min	62.95 m/min	37.45 m/min	45.19 m/min
	/ 26.82	1.812 mph	1.654 mph	2.457 mph	1.536 mph	2.347 mph	1.396 mph	1.685 mph
	x1.609	2.916 km/h	2.662 km/h	3.954 km/h	2.471 km/h	3.777 km/h	2.247 km/h	2.711 km/h

† Craft could have more rowers by length but does not have sufficient buoyancy to hold them.
 

4.6.3.5 Category 2 Raft Table



Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Category #		2
Name		Raft / Canoe 2
Area m^2		0.8	1.115	1.115	1.115	1.115	1.5	1.5
Area sq ft		8.6	12	12	12	12	16.15	16.15
Width ft		2′	2′	2.5′	3′	3.46′	2.5’	3′
Length ft		4.3′	6′	4.8′	4′	3.47′	6.46 ’	5.38’
Min Rowers		0.894	1.056	1.056	1.056	1.056	1.225	1.225
Max Rowers		2	3	2	2	1	3	2
Logs / Row		6	6	6	6	8	8	8
Factor		1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Row Depth ft		1/3′	1/3′	0.417′	0.5′	0.4325′	5/16′	3/8′
Volume cu ft		2.87 cu ft	4 cu ft	5.004 cu ft	6 cu ft	5.19 cu ft	5.05 cu ft	6.05 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		0.08 m^3	0.11327 m^3	0.1417 m^3	0.17 m^3	0.147 m^3	0.143 m^3	0.1713 m^3
Wt kg		44 kg	62.3 kg	77.94 kg	93.5 kg	80.85 kg	78.65 kg	94.2 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.043 lt	0.06 lt	0.0767 lt	0.092 lt	0.796 lt	0.0774 lt	0.093 lt
Max Pass		0.3	0	2	2	4	2.08	4.08
Max Cargo kg		60 kg	0	400 kg	400 kg	800 kg	416 kg	816 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		0.07 tons	0	0.44 tons	0.44 tons	0.88 tons	0.46 tons	0.9 tons
Max Cargo T		0.06 Tonnes	0	0.4 Tonnes	0.4 Tonnes	0.8 Tonnes	0.416 Tonnes	0.816 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+11.06%	+19.44%	+9.44%	+9.44%	-0.57%	+17.75%	+7.75%
Spd Width		-10%	-10%	-12.5%	-15%	-17.3%	-12.5%	-15%
Spd Wt		-10.7% – -30%	-29.8%	-31.4% – -44.5%	-32.7% – -44.7%	-31.7% – -48.9%	-31.5% – -48.9%	-32.8% – -49.2%
100+Tot Mod		90.36% – 71.06%	79.64	65.54% – 52.44%	61.74% – 49.74%	50.43% – 33.23%	73.75% – 60.45%	59.95% – 43.55%
Max Spd	x264	238.6 ft/min	210.2 ft/min	173 ft/min	163 ft/min	133.1 ft/min	194.7 ft/min	158.3 ft/min
	/ 3.281	72.71 m/min	64.09 m/min	52.74 m/min	49.68 m/min	40.58 m/min	59.35 m/min	48.24 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.711 mph	2.389 mph	1.966 mph	1.852 mph	1.513 mph	2.213 mph	1.799 mph
	x1.609	4.363 km/h	3.845 km/h	3.164 km/h	2.981 km/h	2.435 km/h	3.561 km/h	2.894 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	187.6 ft/min	210.2 ft/min	138.4 ft/min	131.3 ft/min	87.7 ft/min	159.6 ft/min	115 ft/min
	/ 3.281	57.18 m/min	64.09 m/min	42.2 m/min	40.03 m/min	26.74 m/min	48.64 m/min	35.04 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.132 mph	2.389 mph	1.573 mph	1.492 mph	0.997 mph	1.814 mph	1.307 mph
	x1.609	3.431 km/h	3.845 km/h	2.532 km/h	2.401 km/h	1.604 km/h	2.919 km/h	2.103 km/h

4.6.3.6 Category 3 Raft Table



Image by ktuec from Pixabay

Category #		3
Name		Raft / Canoe 3
Area m^2		1.5	2.508	2.508	2.508	2.508	2.508	3.5	3.5
Area sq ft		16.15	27	27	27	27	27	37.7	37.7
Width ft		2 ‘	1.75 ‘	2 ‘	3 ‘	4.5 ‘	5 ‘	4 ’	6.14 ‘
Length ft		8.075 ‘	15.43 ‘	13.5 ‘	9 ‘	6 ‘	5.4 ‘	9.425 ’	6.14 ‘
Min Rowers		1.225	1.584	1.584	1.584	1.584	1.584	1.871	1.871
Max Rowers		4	6 †	6	4	3	2	4	3
Logs / Row		6	4	6	8	10	12	10	15
Factor		1	1	1	1	1	1	0.75	1
Row Depth ft		1/3 ‘	0.4375 ‘	1/3 ‘	0.375 ‘	0.45 ‘	0.417 ‘	0.4 ‘	0.409 ‘
Volume cu ft		5.38 cu ft	11.81 cu ft	9 cu ft	10.125 cu ft	12.15 cu ft	11.3 cu ft	11.08 cu ft	15.42 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		0.1523 m^3	0.3345 m^3	0.255 m^3	0.2867 m^3	0.344 m^3	0.32 m^3	0.354 m^3	0.492 m^3
Wt kg		83.77 kg	184 kg	140.25 kg	157.7 kg	189.2 kg	176 kg	194.7 kg	270.8 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.082 lt	0.18 lt	0.14 lt	0.155 lt	0.186 lt	0.173 lt	0.192 lt	0.267 lt
Max Pass		0.07	1.5	1.5	5.5	7.5	9.5	17.13	12.85
Max Cargo kg		14 kg	300 kg	300 kg	1100 kg	1500 kg	1900 kg	3426 kg	2570 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		0.02 tons	0.33 tons	0.33 tons	1.21 tons	1.65 tons	2.09 tons	3.78 tons	2.83 tons
Max Cargo T		0.014 Tonnes	0.3 Tonnes	0.3 Tonnes	1.1 Tonnes	1.5 Tonnes	1.9 Tonnes	3.426 Tonnes	2.57 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+27.75%	+44.16%	+44.16%	+24.16%	+14.16%	+4.16%	+21.29%	+11.29%
Spd Width		-10%	-8.75%	-10%	-15%	-22.5%	-25%	-17.4%	-30.7%
Spd Wt		-31.9% – -33.1%	-37.6% – -44.6%	-35.7% – -43.9%	-36.5% – -51.5%	-37.8% – -53.6%	-37.3% – -55.1%	-26.9% – -41.8%	-40.4% – -57.4%
100+Tot Mod		85.85% – 84.65%	97.81% – 90.81%	98.46% – 90.26%	72.66% – 57.66%	53.86% – 38.06%	41.86% – 24.06%	76.99% – 62.09%	40.18% – 23.18%
Max Spd	x264	226.6 ft/min	258.2 ft/min	259.9 ft/min	191.8 ft/min	142.2 ft/min	110.5 ft/min	203.3 ft/min	106.1 ft/min
	/ 3.281	69.08 m/min	78.71 m/min	79.23 m/min	58.47 m/min	43.34 m/min	33.68 m/min	61.95 m/min	32.34 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.576 mph	2.934 mph	2.954 mph	2.18 mph	1.616 mph	1.256 mph	2.31 mph	1.206 mph
	x1.609	4.145 km/h	4.722 km/h	4.754 km/h	3.508 km/h	2.6 km/h	2.021 km/h	3.717 km/h	1.94 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	223.5 ft/min	239.7 ft/min	238.3 ft/min	152.2 ft/min	100.5 ft/min	63.5 ft/min	163.9 ft/min	61.2 ft/min
	/ 3.281	68.12 m/min	73.07 m/min	72.63 m/min	46.4 m/min	30.63 m/min	19.36 m/min	49.96 m/min	18.66 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.54 mph	2.724 mph	2.708 mph	1.73 mph	1.142 mph	0.722 mph	1.863 mph	0.696 mph
	x1.609	4.087 km/h	4.384 km/h	4.358 km/h	2.784 km/h	1.838 km/h	1.162 km/h	2.998 km/h	1.12 km/h

† Craft could have more rowers by length but does not have sufficient buoyancy to hold them.

4.6.3.7 Category 4 Raft Tables



Image by Natalia K from Pixabay

Category #		4a
Name		Raft / Canoe 4 table 1
Area m^2		3.5	3.5	3.5	4.645	4.645
Area sq ft		37.7	37.7	37.7	50	50
Width ft		2.05 ‘	3 ‘	4 ‘	2.36 ‘	4 ’
Length ft		18.4 ‘	12.23 ‘	9.425 ‘	21.19 ‘	12.5 ‘
Min Rowers		1.871	1.871	1.871	2.16	2.16
Max Rowers		9	6	4	10	6
Logs / Row		6	8	10	7	10
Factor		1	1	1	1	1
Row Depth ft		0.3417 ‘	0.375 ‘	0.4 ‘	0.337 ‘	0.4 ‘
Volume cu ft		12.882 cu ft	14.138 cu ft	15.08 cu ft	16.85 cu ft	20 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		0.411 m^3	0.451 m^3	0.482 m^3	0.538 m^3	0.639 m^3
Wt kg		226.05 kg	248.05 kg	265.1 kg	295.9 kg	351.3 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.2225 lt	0.244 lt	0.261 lt	0.29 lt	0.35 lt
Max Pass		7.13	6.85	10.85	5	13
Max Cargo kg		1426 kg	1370 kg	2170 kg	1000 kg	2600 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		1.57 tons	1.51 tons	2.39 tons	1.1 tons	2.87 tons
Max Cargo T		1.426 Tonnes	1.37 Tonnes	2.17 Tonnes	1 Tonne	2.6 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+71.29%	+41.29%	+21.29%	+78.4%	+38.4%
Spd Width		-8.92%	-15%	-20%	-11.8%	-20%
Spd Wt		-27.7% – -37.8%	-39.8% – -53.3%	-40.3% – -56.2%	-41% – -51.7%	-42.3% – -57.6%
100+Tot Mod		134.67% – 124.57%	86.49% – 72.99%	60.99% – 45.09%	125.6% – 114.9%	76.1% – 114.9%
Max Spd	x264	355.5 ft/min	228.3 ft/min	161 ft/min	331.6 ft/min	200.9 ft/min
	/ 3.281	108.37 m/min	69.6 m/min	49.08 m/min	101.07 m/min	61.24 m/min
	/ 26.82	4.04 mph	2.595 mph	1.83 mph	3.768 mph	2.283 mph
	x1.609	6.502 km/h	4.176 km/h	2.945 km/h	6.064 km/h	3.674 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	328.9 ft/min	192.7 ft/min	119 ft/min	303.8 ft/min	160.5 ft/min
	/ 3.281	100.24 m/min	58.74 m/min	36.28 m/min	92.46 m/min	48.93 m/min
	/ 26.82	3.737 mph	2.19 mph	1.353 mph	3.447 mph	1.824 mph
	x1.609	6.014 km/h	3.524 km/h	2.177 km/h	5.547 km/h	2.935 km/h

‡ Reducing the number of rowers would slow the craft but add 400kg cargo capacity per pair of rowers eliminated.

Category #		4b
Name		Raft / Canoe 4 table 2
Area m^2		4.645	4.645	5.5	5.5	5.5
Area sq ft		50	50	59.2	59.2	59.2
Width ft		6 ‘	7 ‘	3 ‘	4 ‘	5.92 ‘
Length ft		8.33 ‘	7.143 ‘	19.73 ‘	14.8 ‘	10 ‘
Min Rowers		2.16	2.16	2.345	2.345	2.345
Max Rowers		4	3	9	7	5
Logs / Row		15	16	9	10	12
Factor		1	1	1	1	1
Row Depth ft		0.4 ‘	0.438 ‘	1/3 ‘	0.4 ‘	0.493 ‘
Volume cu ft		20 cu ft	21.9 cu ft	19.73 cu ft	23.68 cu ft	29.12 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		0.639 m^3	0.7 m^3	0.63 m^3	0.756 m^3	0.93 m^3
Wt kg		351.3 kg	384.6 kg	346.5 kg	415.8 kg	511.5 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.35 lt	0.38 lt	0.341 lt	0.41 lt	0.5 lt
Max Pass		17	19	11.6	15.6	19.6
Max Cargo kg		3400 kg	3800 kg	2320 kg	3120 kg	3920 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		3.75 tons	4.19 tons	2.56 tons	3.44 tons	4.321 tons
Max Cargo T		3.4 Tonnes	3.8 Tonnes	2.32 Tonnes	3.12 Tonnes	3.92 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+18.4%	+8.4%	+66.55%	+46.55%	+26.55%
Spd Width		-30%	-35%	-15%	-20%	-29.6%
Spd Wt		-42.3% – -59.4%	-42.9% – -60.2%	-42.2% – -56.9%	-43.5% – -58.9%	-45% – -60.6%
100+Tot Mod		46.1% – 29%	30.5% – 13.2%	109.35% – 94.65%	83.05% – 67.65%	51.95% – 36.35%
Max Spd	x264	121.7 ft/min	80.5 ft/min	288.7 ft/min	219.3 ft/min	137.1 ft/min
	/ 3.281	37.1 m/min	24.54 m/min	87.99 m/min	66.83 m/min	41.8 m/min
	/ 26.82	1.8383 mph	0.915 mph	3.281 mph	2.492 mph	1.559 mph
	x1.609	2.226 km/h	1.473 km/h	5.279 km/h	4.01 km/h	2.508 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	76.6 ft/min	34.8 ft/min	249.9 ft/min	178.6 ft/min	96 ft/min
	/ 3.281	23.34 m/min	10.62 m/min	76.16 m/min	54.44 m/min	29.25 m/min
	/ 26.82	0.87 mph	0.396 mph	2.84 mph	2.03 mph	1.091 mph
	x1.609	1.4 km/h	0.638 km/h	4.57 km/h	3.266 km/h	1.755 km/h

4.6.3.8 Category 5 Raft Tables



Image by Heike Frohnhoff from Pixabay

Category #		5a
Name		Raft / Canoe 5 table 1
Area m^2		5.5 m^2	5.5 m^2	7.43 m^2	7.43 m^2	7.43 m^2
Area sq ft		59.2	59.2	80	80	80
Width ft		2.565 ‘	3.37 ‘	3 ‘	4.5 ‘	6 ‘
Length ft		23.08 ‘	17.57 ‘	26.7 ‘	17.78 ‘	13.33 ‘
Min Rowers		2.345	2.345	2.726	2.726	2.726
Max Rowers		11	8	13	8	6
Logs / Row		8	8	8	10	15
Factor		x1.5	x1.5	x1.5	x1.5	x1.5
Row Depth ft		0.293 ‘	0.421 ‘	0.375 ‘	0.45 ‘	0.4 ‘
Volume cu ft		26.02 cu ft	37.385 cu ft	45 cu ft	54 cu ft	48 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		0.8309 m^3	1.194 m^3	1.437 m^3	1.725 m^3	1.533 m^3
Wt kg		457 kg	656.7 kg	790.35 kg	948.75 kg	843 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.45 lt	0.646 lt	0.778 lt	0.934 lt	0.83 lt
Max Pass		56.93	62.93	80.67	90.67	94.67
Max Cargo kg		11 386 kg	12 586 kg	16 134 kg	18 134 kg	18 934 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		12.55 tons	13.87 tons	17.78 tons	19.99 tons	20.87 tons
Max Cargo T		11.386 Tonnes	12.586 Tonnes	16.134 Tonnes	18.134 Tonnes	18.934 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+86.55%	+56.55%	+102.74%	+52.74%	+32.74%
Spd Width		-15.78%	-20.73%	-18.46%	-27.68%	-36.91%
Spd Wt		-22.1% – -33.8%	-23.4% – -34.2%	-24.1% – -35.1%	-24.7% – -35.5%	-24.3% – -35.7%
100+Tot Mod		148.67% – 136.97%	112.42% – 101.62%	160.18% – 149.18%	100.36% – 89.56%	71.53% – 60.13%
Max Spd	x264	392.5 ft/min	296.8 ft/min	422.9 ft/min	265 ft/min	188.8 ft/min
	/ 3.281	119.63 m/min	90.45 m/min	128.9 m/min	80.76 m/min	57.56 m/min
	/ 26.82	4.46 mph	3.373 mph	4.805 mph	3.011 mph	2.146 mph
	x1.609	7.178 km/h	5.428 km/h	7.733 km/h	4.845 km/h	3.453 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	361.6 ft/min	268.3 ft/min	393.8 ft/min	236.4 ft/min	158.7 ft/min
	/ 3.281	110.22 m/min	81.77 m/min	120.05 m/min	72.07 m/min	48.39 m/min
	/ 26.82	4.109 mph	3.049 mph	4.475 mph	2.687 mph	1.804 mph
	x1.609	6.613 km/h	4.906 km/h	7.702 km/h	4.324 km/h	2.903 km/h

Category #		5b
Name		Raft / Canoe 5 table 2
Area m^2		7.43 m^2	7.43 m^2	7.43 m^2	9.5 m^2	9.5 m^2	9.5 m^2
Area sq ft		80	80	80	102.26	102.26	102.26
Width ft		7.5 ‘	8 ‘	8.9 ‘	3.37 ‘	5.8 ‘	10.11 ’
Length ft		10.67 ‘	10 ‘	8.97 ‘	30.34 ‘	17.63 ‘	10.15 ’
Min Rowers		2.726	2.726	2.726	3.082	3.082	3.082
Max Rowers		5	5	4	15	8	5
Logs / Row		16	18	20	8	12	25
Factor		x1.5	x1.5	x1.5	x1.5	x1.5	x1.5
Row Depth ft		0.469 ‘	0.444 ‘	0.445 ‘	0.421 ‘	0.483 ‘	0.4044 ‘
Volume cu ft		56.28 cu ft	53.28 cu ft	53.4 cu ft	64.575 cu ft	74.085 cu ft	62.03 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		1.797 m^3	1.7 m^3	1.705 m^3	2.062 m^3	2.366 m^3	1.981 m^3
Wt kg		988.5 kg	935 kg	937.75 kg	1134 kg	1301.3 kg	1089.55 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		0.973 lt	0.92 lt	0.923 lt	1.116 lt	1.281 lt	1.0724 lt
Max Pass		96.67	96.67	98.67	100.35	120.35	126.35
Max Cargo kg		19 334 kg	19 334 kg	19 734 kg	20 070 kg	24 070 kg	25 270 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		21.31 tons	21.31 tons	21.75 tons	22.12 tons	26.53 tons	27.85 tons
Max Cargo T		19.334 Tonnes	19.334 Tonnes	19.734 Tonnes	20.07 Tonnes	24.07 Tonnes	25.27 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+22.74%	+22.72%	+12.74%	+149.18%	+49.18%	+19.18%
Spd Width		-46.14%	-49.21%	-54.75%	-20.73%	-35.68%	-62.18%
Spd Wt		-24.9% – -35.8%	-24.7% – -35.8%	-24.7% – -35.8%	-25.4% – -35.9%	-259.9% – -36.6%	-25.2% – -26.7%
100+Tot Mod		51.7% – 40.8%	48.81% – 37.71%	33.29% – 22.18%	203.05% – 192.5%	87.6% – 76.9%	31.79% – 20.29%
Max Spd	x264	136.5 ft/min	128.9 ft/min	87.9 ft/min	536.1 ft/min	231.3 ft/min	83.9 ft/min
	/ 3.281	41.6 m/min	39.28 m/min	26.79 m/min	163.39 m/min	70.49 m/min	25.58 m/min
	/ 26.82	1.551 mph	1.464 mph	0.999 mph	6.092 mph	2.628 mph	0.954 mph
	x1.609	2.496 km/h	2.357 km/h	1.607 km/h	9.803 km/h	4.229 km/h	1.535 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	107.7 ft/min	99.6 ft/min	58.6 ft/min	508.3 ft/min	203 ft/min	53.6 ft/min
	/ 3.281	32.83 m/min	30.35 m/min	17.86 m/min	154.94 m/min	61.88 m/min	16.33 m/min
	/ 26.82	1.224 mph	1.131 mph	0.666 mph	5.777 mph	2.307 mph	0.609 mph
	x1.609	1.97 km/h	1.821 km/h	1.071 km/h	9.296 km/h	3.713 km/h	0.98 km/h

4.6.3.9 Category 6 Raft Tables



Image by Mike Goad from Pixabay

Category #		6a
Name		Raft / Canoe 6 table 1
Area m^2		9.5 m^2	9.5 m^2	11.15 m^2	11.15 m^2	11.15 m^2	11.15 m^2
Area sq ft		102.26	102.26	120	120	120	120
Width ft		3.37 ‘	4.4 ‘	3.65 ‘	5 ‘	6 ‘	8 ‘
Length ft		30.34 ‘	23.24 ‘	32.876 ‘	24 ‘	20 ‘	15 ‘
Min Rowers		3.082	3.082	3.34	3.34	3.34	3.34
Max Rowers		15	11	4	15	8	7
Logs / Row		8	10	10	12	15	20
Factor		x1.5	x1.5	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25
Row Depth ft		0.42125	0.44	0.365	0.417	0.4	0.4
Volume cu ft		64.616 cu ft	67.49 cu ft	98.55 cu ft	112.59 cu ft	108 cu ft	108 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		2.063 m^3	2.06 m^3	3.147 m^3	3.6 m^3	3.45 m^3	3.45 m^3
Wt kg		1134.9 kg	1132.67 kg	1730.88 kg	1977.5 kg	1896.85 kg	1896.85 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		1.117 lt	1.148 lt	1.704 lt	1.946 lt	1.867 lt	1.867 lt
Max Pass		106.35	114.35	232	210	224	226
Max Cargo kg		21 270 kg	22 870 kg	46 400 kg	42 000 kg	44 800 kg	45 200 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		23.45 tons	25.21 tons	51.15 tons	46.3 tons	49.38 tons	49.82 tons
Max Cargo T		21.27 Tonnes	22.87 Tonnes	46.4 Tonnes	42 Tonnes	44.8 Tonnes	45.2 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+119.18%	+79.18%	+6.6%	+116.6%	+46.6%	+36.6%
Spd Width		-51.92%	-44.46%	-29.06%	-56.27%	-41.09%	-38.44%
Spd Wt		-14.8% – -54.5%	-13.1% – -54.9%	-7.6% – -58.8%	-14.8% – -58.2%	-11.4% – -58.6%	-10.6% – -58.6%
100+Tot Mod		152.46% – 112.76%	121.62% – 79.82%	69.94% – 18.74%	145.53% – 102.13%	94.11% – 46.91%	87.56% – 39.56%
Max Spd	x264	402.5 ft/min	321.1 ft/min	184.6 ft/min	384.2 ft/min	248.5 ft/min	231.2 ft/min
	/ 3.281	122.68 m/min	97.87 m/min	56.28 m/min	117.11 m/min	75.73 m/min	70.46 m/min
	/ 26.82	4.574 mph	3.649 mph	2.098 mph	4.366 mph	2.823 mph	2.627 mph
	x1.609	7.361 km/h	5.872 km/h	3.377 km/h	7.026 km/h	4.544 km/h	4.227 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	297.7 ft/min	210.7 ft/min	49.5 ft/min	269.6 ft/min	123.8 ft/min	104.4 ft/min
	/ 3.281	90.74 m/min	64.23 m/min	15.08 m/min	82.18 m/min	37.75 m/min	31.83 m/min
	/ 26.82	3.383 mph	2.395 mph	0.562 mph	3.064 mph	1.407 mph	1.187 mph
	x1.609	5.444 km/h	3.854 km/h	0.905 km/h	4.931 km/h	2.265 km/h	1.91 km/h



Image by Juliano from Pixabay

Category #		6b
Name		Raft / Canoe 6 table 2
Area m^2		11.15 m^2	12.08 m^2	12.08 m^2	13.47 m^2	13.47 m^2	13.47 m^2
Area sq ft		120	130	130	145	145	145
Width ft		10 ‘	6.5 ‘	10 ‘	4.02 ‘	5 ‘	8 ‘
Length ft		12 ‘	20 ‘	13 ‘	36.07 ‘	29 ‘	18.125 ‘
Min Rowers		3.34	3.476	3.476	3.67	3.67	3.67
Max Rowers		6	10	6	18	14	9
Logs / Row		24	15	25	10	15	20
Factor		x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25
Row Depth		0.417	0.433	0.4	0.402	1/3	0.4
Volume cu ft		112.59 cu ft	126.65 cu ft	117 cu ft	131.2 cu ft	108.75 cu ft	130.5 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		3.595 m^3	4.045 m^3	3.736 m^3	4.188 m^3	3.473 m^3	4.167 m^3
Wt kg		1977.5 kg	2224.5 kg	2054.9 kg	2203.5 kg	1910 kg	2292 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		1.95 lt	2.19 lt	2.023 lt	2.267 lt	1.88 lt	2.256 lt
Max Pass		228	240	248	254	262	272
Max Cargo kg		45 600 kg	48 000 kg	49 600 kg	50 800 kg	52 400 kg	54 400 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		50.26 tons	52.91 tons	54.67 tons	56 tons	57.76 tons	59.96 tons
Max Cargo T		45.6 Tonnes	48 Tonnes	49.6 Tonnes	50.8 Tonnes	52.4 Tonnes	54.4 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+26.6%	+65.24%	+25.24%	+143.3%	+103.3%	+53.3%
Spd Width		-35.59%	-47.82%	-37.04%	-67.73%	-59.73%	-47.89%
Spd Wt		-9.8% – -58.7%	-12.6% – -58.9%	-9.8% – -59.1%	-15.8% – -59.3%	-14.4% – -59.4%	-12% – -59.6%
100+Tot Mod		81.21% – 32.31%	104.82% – 58.52%	78.4% – 29.1%	159.77% – 116.27%	129.17% – 84.17%	93.41% – 45.81%
Max Spd	x264	214.4 ft/min	276.7 ft/min	207 ft/min	421.8 ft/min	341 ft/min	246.6 ft/min
	/ 3.281	65.35 m/min	84.35 m/min	63.09 m/min	128.57 m/min	103.94 m/min	75.17 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.436 mph	3.145 mph	2.352 mph	4.7963 mph	3.875 mph	2.802 mph
	x1.609	3.921 km/h	5.061 km/h	3.785 km/h	7.714 km/h	6.236 km/h	4.51 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	85.3 ft/min	154.5 ft/min	76.8 ft/min	307 ft/min	222.2 ft/min	120.9 ft/min
	/ 3.281	26 m/min	47.09 m/min	23.42 m/min	93.56 m/min	67.73 m/min	36.86 m/min
	/ 26.82	0.969 mph	1.756 mph	0.873 mph	3.488 mph	2.525 mph	1.374 mph
	x1.609	1.56 km/h	2.825 km/h	1.405 km/h	5.614 km/h	4.064 km/h	2.212 km/h

Category #		6c
Name		Raft / Canoe 6 table 3
Area m^2		13.47 m^2	13.47 m^2	14.86 m^2	14.86 m^2	14.86 m^2	14.86 m^2
Area sq ft		145	145	160	160	160	160
Width ft		10 ‘	12 ‘	4.3 ‘	5 ‘	8 ‘	10 ‘
L ft		14.5 ‘	12.083 ‘	37.21 ‘	32 ‘	20 ‘	16 ‘
Min Rowers		3.67	3.67	3.855	3.855	3.855	3.855
Max Rowers		7	6	18	16	10	8
Logs / Row		24	25	12	12	20	25
Factor		x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25
Row Depth		0.417	0.48	0.358	0.417	0.4	0.4
Volume cu ft		136.05 cu ft	156.6 cu ft	128.88 cu ft	150.12 cu ft	144 cu ft	144 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		4.344 m^3	5.001 m^3	4.116 m^3	4.794 m^3	4.6 m^3	4.6 m^3
Wt kg		2389 kg	2750.44 kg	2263.68 kg	2636.6 kg	2529.1 kg	2529.1 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		2.352 lt	2.707 lt	2.228 lt	2.6 lt	2.489 lt	2.489 lt
Max Pass		276	278	284	288	300	304
Max Cargo kg		55 200 kg	55 600 kg	56 800 kg	57 600 kg	60 000 kg	60 800 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		60.85 tons	61.29 tons	62.61 tons	63.49 tons	66.14 tons	67.02 tons
Max Cargo T		55.2 Tonnes	55.6 Tonnes	56.8 Tonnes	57.6 Tonnes	60 Tonnes	60.8 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+33.3%	+23.3%	+141.45%	+121.45%	+61.45%	+41.45%
Spd Width		-42.24%	-39.1%	-71.15%	-67.08%	-53.03%	-47.43%
Spd Wt		-10.6% – -59.7%	-9.8% – -59.7%	-15.8% – -59.9%	-15.2% – -59.9%	-12.6% – -60.2%	-11.4% – -60.2%
100+Tot Mod		80.46% – 31.36%	74.4% – 24.5%	154.5% – 110.4%	139.17% – 94.47%	95.82% – 48.22%	82.62% – 33.82%
Max Spd	x264	212.4 ft/min	196.4 ft/min	407.9 ft/min	367.4 ft/min	253 ft/min	218.1 ft/min
	/ 3.281	64.75 m/min	50.87 m/min	124.33 m/min	111.99 m/min	77.11 m/min	66.48 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.414 mph	2.232 mph	4.635 mph	4.175 mph	2.875 mph	2.479 mph
	x1.609	3.885 km/h	3.592 km/h	7.459 km/h	6.719 km/h	4.626 km/h	3.989 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	82.8 ft/min	64.7 ft/min	291.5 ft/min	249.4 ft/min	127.3 ft/min	80.3 ft/min
	/ 3.281	25.24 m/min	19.72 m/min	88.84 m/min	76.02 m/min	38.8 m/min	27.21 m/min
	/ 26.82	0.941 mph	0.735 mph	3.312 mph	2.834 mph	1.447 mph	1.015 mph
	x1.609	1.514 km/h	1.183 km/h	5.33 km/h	4.561 km/h	2.328 km/h	1.633 km/h



Image by hyfs2012 from Pixabay

Category #		6d
Name		Raft / Canoe 6 table 4
Area m^2		14.86 m^2	16 m^2	16 m^2	16 m^2	16 m^2	16 m^2
Area sq ft		160	172.22	172.22	172.22	172.22	172.22
Width ft		12.5 ‘	4.4 ‘	5 ‘	8 ‘	12 ‘	13.12 ‘
Length ft		12.8 ‘	39.14 ‘	24.6 ‘	21.5275 ‘	14.35 ‘	13.1265 ‘
Min Rowers		3.855	4	4	4	4	4
Max Rowers		6	6	18	16	10	8
Logs / Row		30	15	15	20	36	40
Factor		x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25	x2.25
Row Depth		0.417	0.293	1/3	0.4	1/3	0.328
Volume cu ft		150.12 cu ft	113.54 cu ft	129.17 cu ft	155 cu ft	129.17 cu ft	127.1 cu ft
Volume m^3 (/31.315)		4.794 m^3	3.626 m^3	4.125 m^3	4.95 m^3	4.125 m^3	4.06 m^3
Wt kg		2636.6 kg	1994.1 kg	2268.6 kg	2722.3 kg	2268.6 kg	2232.3 kg
Wt lt (/1016)		2.6 lt	1.963 lt	2.233 lt	2.68 lt	2.233 lt	2.2 lt
Max Pass		308	332.44	308.44	312.44	324.44	328.44
Max Cargo kg		61 600 kg	66 488 kg	61 688 kg	62 488 kg	64 888 kg	65 688 kg
Max Cargo t (/907.2)		67.9 tons	73.29 tons	68 tons	68.88 tons	71.53 tons	72.41 tons
Max Cargo T		61.6 Tonnes	66.488 Tonnes	61.688 Tonnes	62.488 Tonnes	64.888 Tonnes	65.688 Tonnes
Spd Rowers		+21.45%	+20%	+140%	+120%	+60%	+40%
Spd Width		-41.08%	-42.62%	-73.82%	-69.6%	-55.02%	-49.21%
Spd Wt		-9.8% – -60.3%	-9.8% – -60.7%	-15.8% – -60.3%	-15.2% – -60.4%	-12.6% – -60.6%	-11.4% – -60.7%
100+Tot Mod		70.57% – 20.07%	67.58% – 16.68%	150.38% – 105.88%	135.2% – 90%	92.38% – 44.38%	79.39% – 30.09%
Max Spd	x264	186.3 ft/min	178.4 ft/min	397 ft/min	356.9 ft/min	243.9 ft/min	209.6 ft/min
	/ 3.281	56.79 m/min	54.38 m/min	121.01 m/min	108.8 m/min	74.34 m/min	63.89 m/min
	/ 26.82	2.117 mph	2.027 mph	4.511 mph	4.056 mph	2.771 mph	2.382 mph
	x1.609	3.407 km/h	3.263 km/h	7.26 km/h	6.527 km/h	4.46 km/h	3.833 km/h
Fully Loaded Spd	x264	53 ft/min	44 ft/min	279.5 ft/min	237.6 ft/min	117.2 ft/min	79.4 ft/min
	/ 3.281	16.15 m/min	13.42 m/min	85.2 m/min	72.42 m/min	35.71 m/min	24.21 m/min
	/ 26.82	0.602 mph	0.5 mph	3.176 mph	2.7 mph	1.331 mph	0.903 mph
	x1.609	0.969 km/h	0.805 km/h	5.112 km/h	4.345 km/h	2.143 km/h	1.453 km/h

4.6.4 Overloaded Rafts

(Actual Weight – Craft Weight – [19]) ^ 0.5 / 3 = % chance per hour of capsize.

1 in 3 capsizes are total, 2 in 3 are partial. For partial, roll d% / 2 to get the percentage of people / goods that end up in the water.

[8] x 1.25, round down = % chance of raft breakup in a partial capsize.
[8] x 2.5, round down = % chance of raft breakup in a total capsize.

4.6.5 Raft Breakup

If the capsize result indicates that the raft has broken up, here’s the procedure:

Roll d20 x 5. If you roll high, this is the % of the raft that survives the breakup ‘intact’. If you roll low, this is the % of the raft that is lost. If you roll close to the middle, choose as above; a second raft consisting of (result-10) per cent of the original also survives.

When assessing / describing the results, which are (essentially) one or two rafts with different configurations, think about the construction of the raft, as shown below:



Notches are basically cuts into the timbers , no more than half-way through and preferably less. Because logs tend to narrow at one end, the direction the narrow ends point alternates from end to end; this makes it more difficult to get the notches to line up, but this is critical to the structure of a raft.

Into the notch is placed a crossbeam – usually a 1/4 or 1/3 ‘wedge’ from another tree. This should fit pretty perfectly as a result of matching the angle of the wedges removed from the main structure.

Note that these are at right angles to the main logs of the raft. This matters.

Nails are then used to secure the crossbeam to each of the logs. Note that these nails are at right angles to both the main logs and the crossbeams, i.e. up and down. The more nearly true this is, the stronger the construction – but the reality is that they will almost always be at a slight angle, one way or another.

This design means that no matter which direction a force impacting the raft is coming from, there is something that is resisting it and distributing that force across the whole structure.



Water and sky derive from Message In A Bottle from Pixabay.

This side-view should not only make this a little clearer, but also shows how multiple rows of logs are joined and how the structural strength is compromised by hollowing out the lower logs – but it has to be done.

Notice how the notches are staggered so that no two nails should ever meet head-on, which would introduce additional points of weakness.

Damage by natural forces is going to proceed from the outside inwards. First, a crossbeam will come loose; second, one or two logs held by the crossbeam will break away; third, what’s left may break into two pieces.

People and cargo can easily be lost overboard, and that can be a good thing because two smaller rafts do not have the same capacity as a single larger one. However, it can also be catastrophic because the sides that initially break free? That’s where your rowers are, and your oars. You might be able to replace the first, but the second severely compromises your situation.

Crews should build these rafts like their lives depended on them – because they very well might.

4.6.6 Construction Time

Construction time is determined simply by working out how long each part of the task takes. For example:

• Find a suitable tree
• Saw down the base
• Saw off the unwanted crown
• Saw off any large limbs flush with the trunk
• Trim any smaller limbs
• Hollow the log if you are going to
• Carve any notches being very careful with measurements

Repeat for each log needed. Construct the crossbeams from an additional log. (You might think that if you’re using 90-degree wedges, you will get 4 of them per trunk. You won’t; you will get three and some leftover wood, because you need to be on the better side of the inevitable margin of error).

• Assemble the raft.
• Launch the raft.
• Stock the raft.
• Mount the raft.
• Navigate, Row the raft.

The diameter of the logs is obviously a critical question in terms of the first group of tasks – especially since the larger the tree-trunk, the larger any branches will be, relatively speaking.

Divide 550 x the (average) diameter of the tree trunk by the lift capability of the characters doing the work to get the base time for carrying each of the tasks. Then halve the result as the result is the number of half-hours it takes.

If the wood is denser than the average used, it will be stronger and heavier – so apply a fudge factor to allow for this (and don’t forget the impact on the raft specifications).

Some tree types will have bigger, stronger limbs than others – compare oak trees and pine trees for example. So you need another fudge factor for that.

Having the right tools makes a huge difference. If using ‘adequate’ replacements, double the work; if using ‘inadequate make-dos’ multiply it five-fold.

Hollowing out a tree trunk is a LOT of work. And external holes into the hollow have to be plugged, probably with a mixture of sawdust and wood sap. The usual method is to start at the thick end, set it alight while repeatedly moistening the parts that you don’t want to burn, and – as soon as it chars – digging out the part that’s burning to create a hollow. Set a fire within the hollow, and repeat – again and again. Then plug the end, possibly with a sawn-off tree cross-section.

Even under the best of circumstances, with the right tools, this takes the base time per foot of length to be hollowed.

Some tree saps are more volatile / flammable than others. This can speed the work but make it more dangerous and frustrating – Australian gum trees, for example, can explode when burned. So apply a relevant fudge factor for the tree type.

Beyond these guidelines, use your own best judgment. But note that a lot will depend on the scarcity of suitable timber. Emphasis on the word “suitable” – the trunk has to be considerably taller than the intended length of the raft. If not, the raft will have to be shorter.

It’s also worth noting that rafts are so inefficient as a means of cargo transport that only being marooned and having no other choice makes it viable. That’s a factor that’s been at the back of my mind throughout this section, and it should be in the back of your mind whenever rafts are discussed in-game, too.

But there are times when a raft is the best possible solution. When the knights need to transport both themselves and their horses to the scene of a confrontation in Edding’s “Tamuli” series, the only practical solution is for the Knights to ride on board ships with the horses on rafts that are either pushed or towed by the ships – the stories give the impression of pushing, but towing makes more sense. From memory, this action starts in book 2, The Shining Ones, and concludes in book 3, the hidden city, but don’t quote me on that!

Ultimately, it’s not up to the GM to decide when the PCs will take a raft to sea – it’s a choice that the PCs have to make. While he may be able to predict it as a possibility, there may be other solutions to the needs of the moment. The goal of this section of the series is to give the GM the tools that are needed to accommodate the choices made by the PCs.

4.6.7 A final word on Overloading Capacities

Done properly, this is a reasonable risk to take. Done improperly, it’s not.

Overloads in the form of consumables are – as a general rule – worth the risk, because those consumables will disappear over time, mitigating the risk – and avoiding the risk of running out of food (or, more importantly, potable water).

However, there are limits to this sort of thing, and the players and GM will need to be very wary of those limits.

How long it is going to take the characters to get somewhere where they can do better for themselves is a critical question. The Vector Sum rules are presented very early in this discussion, and in considerable detail, for a reason.

I should also emphasize that threats are magnified several-fold if you are stuck on a raft. Think about a shark or two – one need only nudge the raft until it capsizes, even if it isn’t damaged, for lunch to end up in the water. A single shark can be as menacing as a while school of them would be in a ship, and then some.

Rafts may not be anyone’s first choice of seagoing vessel – but they are sometimes the necessary choice.

4.7 Canoes etc

Canoes and small boats are basically rafts which trade dimensional constraints (inherent in the basic hull shape) for additional speed. They are often at the smaller end of the raft scale because they are essentially either a single hollowed out log or a wooden or metal frame with some material – leather or cloth – stretched over the frame and treated to make it waterproof.

The latter are a lot more delicate work to construct, while the former are simpler, requiring less expertise, but involving more manual labor.

4.7.1 Proportions

All small boats have the proportions of either 1-to-x or 1.5 to X, where X is always at least twice the base of the ratio.

So 1:2 is valid. So are 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, and so on, even up to 1:12 or 1:14 – which violates the basic dimension restrictions for rafts. Some rowboats use 1.5 as the base of the ratio, 1.5:3 is obviously the same as 1:2, but 1.5:4 or 1.5:5 are also legitimate. And again, you can go all the way up to something like 1.5:16 or more.

4.7.2 Frontal Dimension

Boats usually taper to a point at the front, just like ships, making this a non-existent dimension in reality, but for the purposes of construction and calculation, the width at the front is assumed to be the same as the width of the boat at it’s widest point, and the area is assumed to be that of the resulting rectangle.

Unlike rafts, however, the frontal dimension can be as small as 1′.

Each rower or oarsman is assumed to occupy a space, sitting down, of 1′ x 2′. That means that the narrowest vessels in this category only support rowers in a single line, and not pairs of rowers.

However, if the craft is 2′ or more wide, 2 rowers can operate side-by side – and you can actually have extremely wide vessels with up to three oarsmen on each side per 2′ of length.

Because of the narrowing of the hulls, the front 2′ of hull are not permitted to have rowers, however.

Examples of the combinations that are possible when all these restrictions are taken into account are shown below.



Figure 1 illustrates the point made about shape – the system assumes that the three shapes are equivalent, and then offsets the error with a higher base speed for shapes 2 and 3. What matters are the dimensions of width and length.

Figure 2 shows a 1;:5 ratio boat with 1′ width. Because of the (invisible) tapering of the hull, there is no room for a rower in the front 2′. That leaves 3′ of room for rowers – but since each occupies 1′ x 2′ of space, there can be just one rower. That leaves 1′ of space at the back that could be used for cargo or for one person standing up. The one rower could either use a small oar that they moved from side to side with each stroke, or two oars that they employed simultaneously.

Figure 2a shows a 6:1 ratio boat with 1′ of width, showing that this creates enough room for a second rower.

Figure 3 keeps the same ratio of width to length, but doubles the width to 2′ – enough for rowers to operate in pairs side-by-side. This means that 8 rowers can be operating, or 4 rowers with 4 resting at any given time.

Figure 4 doubles the width of the craft without increasing it’s length. Now, you can have 16 rowers – or 8 rowers with 8 resting – or 8 rowers and 4 passengers (the raft configuration). There are multiple possible 8-rowers-and-8-resting configurations, as well, but they all amount to the same thing in within the game mechanics.

Not shown (there wasn’t enough room) is a 1.5′ x 10′ ratio – basically, Figure 3 with an extra half-rower’s width. This requires the rowers to be staggered, but leaves room next to each rower for a small amount of possessions or cargo.

There are other possibilities as well – Figure 3 with 4 rowers and cargo / passengers in positions 3, 4, 7, and 8, or with someone manning a tiller at the back with a passenger / cargo beside them.

4.7.3 Base Speed

Just calculate the speed of the vessel as though it were a raft, using the correct number of rowers (and remember that on a raft, these are all configured in pairs).

Then adjust the base speed from 3 mph as follows:

Base Speed = 1/2 x ([Length / Width] – 1)

The raft system then spits out correct answers for these small boats, taking into effect everything that matters..

It’s that simple.

Thuings I didn’t get to do / finish:

(1) An example in the raft generator, worked step-by-step. That will have to wait until I edit all this into an e-book.

(2) A spreadsheet that does it all for you. What, you thought I calculated all those table entries manually? No chance! But it needs some tidying up before it’s ready for anyone else to use. Depending on how quickly the rest of the next part flows (and it’s part-done already), I may or may not get time to finish it for a bonus freebie. If I can, I will – I would rather do it while it’s still fresh in my head.

Next time, the seriously maritime: Ships of many shapes and sizes, plus exotic modes of transport, to wrap up this chapter of Trade In Fantasy.