One of the most effective ways of finding loot and treasure in Raft is to use the metal detector. This tool can help you find lots of rare materials very quickly — or troves of assorted trash, which can also be helpful — and it doesn't take much to make it.

This guide will tell you how to get the metal detector and the different loot types you can expect to unearth with the shovel. The metal detector won't do the digging itself! 

How to Get the Metal Detector

Before you can craft a metal detector, you must find its blueprint and research it at the Research Table. You can find the Metal Detector blueprint on Caravan Island, which is the first island of Chapter 2. Once you're there, follow these steps:

1. Locate the Container Tower in the center of the island.
2. Look out for a long pipe nearby that goes into the ocean.
3. Follow the pipe to the very bottom of the ocean.
4. Get inside the blue crate at the end.
5. Pick up the blueprint inside the crate.

Once you've obtained the blueprint, you must research it at the Research Table, then craft the metal detector with the following items: 

• 12 Plastic.
• 6 Scrap.
• 1 Battery.

One metal detector is limited to 450 uses. After that, you must craft a new one.

List of Detectable Loot

You can find loot anywhere on the islands using the metal detector, including the following items and drop rates:

• Assorted Trash (42.5%):
  • Scrap.
  • Planks.
  • Rope.
  • Plastic.
  • Copper.
  • Metal Ore.
• Suitcase (30%):
  • Scrap.
  • Glass.
  • Bolt.
  • Hinge.
  • Titanium Ore.
  • Vine Goo.
  • Metal Ore.
  • Copper.
  • Developer Paintings.
• Combination Safe (20%):
  • Glass.
  • Bolt.
  • Hinge.
  • Leather.
  • Biofuel.
  • Explosive Powder.
  • Titanium Ore.
  • Cassette Tapes.
  • Developer Paintings.
  • Toy Robots.
• Tiki Piece (7.5%):
  • Tiki Base.
  • Tiki Headpiece.
  • Tiki Middle Piece.

Related guides

• Raft: All Juicer Recipes
• Raft: How to Make Trash Cubes
• Raft: How to Unlock All Characters
• Raft: How to Get Bait

That's everything you need to know on how to get the metal detector in Raft. Be sure to check out the rest of the Raft tips and tricks articles on our dedicated hub page.

The cooking pot is one of the most important survival tools in Raft. Whereas the simple grill and advanced grill let you cook single items or multiple single items at a time, the cooking pot lets you combine ingredients to cook various dishes found as recipes. Currently, there are 12 dishes in the game. 

The guide below will tell you how to craft the cooking pot and list out all of the food recipes currently in the game. 

How to Make the Cooking Pot

You can craft a cooking pot using the following recipe once you research the parts below at the Research Table. Unlike the juicer, the cooking pot does not require a battery to make dishes.

• 6 Wood Plank.
• 6 Plastic.
• 2 Metal Ingot.
• 4 Vine Goo.
• 1 Bolt.

All Cooking Pot Recipes

BBQ

• 1 Raw Meat.
• 1 Raw Mackerel.
• 1 Raw Drumstick.
• 1 Cave Mushroom.

Catfish Deluxe

• 1 Raw Potato / Raw Beet.
• 1 Raw Catfish.
• 1 Cave Mushroom.
• 1 Chili.

Coconut Chicken

• 2 Raw Drumstick.
• 1 Coconut.
• 1 Cave Mushroom.

Head Broth

• 1 Raw Potato / Raw Beet.
• 2 Poison-Puffer Head.
• 1 Bucket of Milk.

Hearty Stew

• 1 Raw Potato.
• 1 Cave Mushroom.
• 1 Raw Meat.
• 1 Juniper.

Mushroom Omelette 

• 1 Raw Potato.
• 2 Eggs.
• 1 Cave Mushroom.

Salmon Salad

• 1 Pineapple / Mango.
• 1 Raw Salmon.
• 1 Silver Algae.
• 1 Turmeric.

Shark Dinner

• 2 Raw Shark Meat.
• 1 Cave Mushroom.
• 1 Silver Algae.

Simple Fish Stew

• 2 Raw Potato / Raw Beet.
• 2 Raw Herring / Raw Pomfret.

Steak with Jam

• 1 Raw Potato / Raw Beet.
• 1 Raw Meat.
• 2 Red Berries.

Sushi

• 2 Raw Mackarel / Raw Tilapia.
• 1 Egg.
• 1 Silver Algae.

Vegetable Soup

• 4 Raw Potato / Raw Beet.

Related guides

• Raft: How to Make Trash Cubes
• Raft: How to Unlock All Characters
• Raft: How to Get Bait

Those are all cooking pot recipes in Raft, as well as crafting recipe for making the cooking pot. Be sure to check out the rest of the Raft tips and tricks articles on our dedicated hub page.

In Raft, seagulls are as annoying as flies. They won't be a bother until you start farming, but watch out once you plant any seed. You'll have the pesky birds diving in for free meals every few minutes, ruining the watermelons or potatoes you've worked so hard to cultivate. So how do you defend your crops from seagull attacks? 

Build a Greenhouse

If you're going to farm, one of the best ways to keep seagulls at bay is to build a simple "greenhouse" around and above your crop plots. To defend attacks, you'll need to build a 2x2 structure with 4 walls and 4 wooden roof pieces; seagulls can clip through 4 wooden roof corner pieces.

Of course, you can build a larger structure, but 2x2 will house 4 small plots and 2 medium plots, a good starting point for farming. Large plots won't really benefit from anything around them at all. 

Regardless of the greenhouse size you ultimately settle on, the problem with greenhouses is that they take up a good amount of space on your raft. They aren't the most aesthetically pleasing solutions either. An alternative is the tried and true scarecrow. 

Unlock the Scarecrow

To unlock the scarecrow, research planks, palm leaves, nails, and plastic at the Research Table. Once the scarecrow is unlocked, look for the blueprint under the Food/Water tab in your inventory. You'll need the following materials to build it:

• 5 Planks.
• 3 Palm Leaf.
• 3 Nails.
• 3 Plastic. 

Scarecrows act as a buffer between seagulls and crops, and they can be attacked three times before they are destroyed, and you'll have to build another one. It's a vicious, grating cycle. To keep that from happening too often, you can shoo the birds away by simply approaching them, stabbing them with a spear, or shooting them with a bow and arrow. The latter two options will give you some feathers and raw drumsticks if you kill the bird. 

Eventually, you can unlock the advanced scarecrow, which is able to withstand the seagulls' attacks. The blueprint can be purchased with Trash Cubes and Trade Coin at Trading Posts on large islands after reaching Tier 3 reputation. 

Now that you know how to deal with seagulls eating your crops and defend their attacks, you'll have a farm for passive food and water sources on your raft. Fishing may be simpler and require less supervision, but farming is a nice change of pace for those patient enough to take it on. For more, head over to our Raft guides hub.

The Juicer is a new cooking station that has been added in Raft: The Final Chapter. You can use its specific recipes for making fresh smoothies, which can be consumed in order to restore player's HP.

In this guide we're going to go over how to craft the Juicer, as well as all the smoothie recipes you can make with this new crafting station.

How to Make Juicer in Raft

Before you can use it, you must first craft the Juicer using the following recipe:

• 6 Plank.
• 6 Plastic.
• 1 Bolt.
• 4 Vine Goo.
• 1 Circuit Board.

After that you need to craft a battery, which feeds the Juicer, using this recipe:

• 1 Copper Ingot.
• 6 Plastic.
• 3 Scrap.

Finally, you need to find smoothie recipes that can be either purchased from the Trading Posts, or by searching through chests and barrels on the islands and free rafts.

But if you already know the ingredients, then you don't need the actual recipes, and you can just add them to the Juicer.

All Juicer Recipes in Raft

Coconut Beat Recipe

• 3 Coconut.
• 1 Raw Beet.

Mangonana Recipe

• 1 Mango.
• 2 Banana.
• 1 Bucket of Milk.

Red Melon

• 1 Red Berries.
• 1 Strawberry.
• 1 Watermelon.
• 1 Coconut.

Redbeet Shot

• 2 Raw Beet.
• 1 Coconut.
• 1 Turmeric.

Silver Smoothie Recipe

• 1 Banana.
• 1 Mango.
• 1 Bucket of Milk.
• 1 Silver Algae.

Simple Smoothie Recipe

• 1 Mango.
• 1 Pineapple.
• 2 Coconut.

Spicy Pineberry

• 1 Pineapple.
• 2 Strawberry.
• 1 Chili.

Strawberry Colada Recipe

• 1 Pineapple.
• 1 Strawberry.
• 2 Coconut.

Related guides

• Raft: How to Make Trash Cubes
• Raft: How to Unlock All Characters
• Raft: How to Get Bait

Those are all Juicer recipes in Raft, as well as crafting recipe for making the Juicer. Be sure to check out the rest of the Raft tips and tricks articles on our dedicated hub page.

The latest update for Raft introduced three new types of fishing bait to the game: simple bait, advanced bait, and expert bait. All three types can be purchased at the Trading Post, but it's not as simple as it sounds. You'll need to increase your reputation, too.  

Each of the three types of fishing bait are available at different tiers of any available Trading Post:

• Tier 1: Simple Bait.
• Tier 2: Advanced Bait.
• Tier 3: Expert Bait.

All three types cost 1 Trash Cube, but you must also have enough good reputation at the Trading Post to unlock Tier 2 and Tier 3. The only way to increase your reputation is to sell raw fish to the Trading Post.

Unlock Tier 1 Bait

To purchase your first bait at the Trading Post, you must:

1. Craft the Recycler (if you don't know how, check out this guide).
2. Make at least 1 Trash Cube at the Recycler.
3. Go to any large island with Trading Post.
4. Purchase Simple Bait for 1 Trash Cube at Tier 1.

To use the bait you just purchased, craft either a Wooden Fishing Rod or a Metal Fishing Rod. Here are the recipes:

Wooden Fishing Rod crafting recipe.

• 6 Wood Plank.
• 8 Rope.

Metal Fishing Rod crafting recipe.

• 8 Rope.
• 3 Scrap.
• 1 Bolt.

Unlock Tier 2 Bait

Once you have your fishing rod and your simple bait, equip them and go to the closest water source. Select the bait using RMB and press LMB to throw or reel in the bait.

You can now sell the fish you catch at the Trading Post, which will increase your reputation and unlock Tier 2, where you can buy the Advanced Bait.

Unlock Tier 3 Bait

Repeat the same steps as with the Advanced Bait, and you will catch better fish, which unlocks Tier 3 at the Trading Post, where you can finally purchase the third and final Expert Bait.

The fishing drop rates are the following:

• Raw Pomfret / Raw Herring: 25.49%
• Raw Tilapia / Raw Mackerel: 18.91%
• Raw Catfish / Raw Salmon: 3.29%
• Candle Bottle / Old Shoe: 1.63%
• Lucky Cat / Scrap Mechanic Duck: 0.66%

Related guides

• Raft: How to Make Trash Cubes
• Raft: How to Unlock All Characters

That's all you need to know on how to get bait in Raft, as well as increase your reputation at Trading Posts. Be sure to check out the rest of the Raft tips and tricks articles on our dedicated hub page.

Raft has left Early Access and hit 1.0. With the release, there are now four new playable characters in the island-hopping survival game: Tala, Johnny, Elaine, and Shogo. Though you'll still start with the default playable characters, Maya and Rouhi, you can unlock these new additions. 

This guide will tell you how to unlock all characters in Raft. Each of them can be found in different chapters during the main story, so you shouldn't miss them, but if you're wondering, here's what you need to know. 

How to Unlock Tala

Tala can be found in the Radio Tower (and finding the building will let you start crafting Trash Cubes, too). Once you're there, go to the top floor and speak to her. Here's what you need to get to the Radio Tower: 

1. Craft Research Table.
2. Craft the Receiver.
3. Craft three Antennas.
4. Connect the Receiver and the three Antennas on the raft.
5. Go to the location displayed on the Receiver.

How to Unlock Johnny

Johnny is on the island of Balboa, the third island in Chapter 1. There are three Relay Stations on the island, known as Relay Statiosn #2, #4, and #6. Johnny can be found on top of the last Relay Station #6 in the northern part of Balboa. Just speak with him to unlock him.

How to Unlock Elaine

Elaine is in Tangaroa City, which is the second island of Chapter 2. To finish the second chapter, you must go to the Main Tower in the center of the city. If you go to the very top of the tower, you will find Elaine sitting in one of the chairs. You can easily reach this area by using the elevator and walking through the doors to your left.

How to Unlock Shogo

Shogo is the final playable character in Raft. They can be found inside the cryo chamber in the Temeprance reactor room. Temperance is the second area of Chapter 3. It is a giant, snowy island that can be traversed using a snowmobile. Follow these steps to locate Shogo:

1. Go to the Observatory.
2. Enter the Selene Research Facility.
3. Go downstairs into the Reactor Room.
4. Turn left and enter the Cryo Chamber.

You will see Shogo frozen in one of the capsules. Interact with the capsule and revive Shogo. After speaking with him, he will be added to the list of playable characters. That's everything you need on how to unlock all characters in Raft.

Raft's official release adds many new locations, creatures, and items, but perhaps most importantly, there's a new in-game currency known as Trash Cubes, which can be crafted from various materials. This guide will tell you how to get Trash Cubes, including which crafting station you'll need and which materials you'll have to scrounge up. 

How to Make a Recycler

Trash Cubes are made in the Recycler, a new station added in Raft: The Final Chapter. You'll need a blueprint to build this station, and it can be obtained from the Radio Tower. To get to the Radio Tower, you'll need to craft a Receiver and three Antennas, which can be crafted at the Research Table. Lastly, you'll need a battery to power the receiver. Here are the recipes: 

Research Table crafting recipe:

• 14 Planks.
• 2 Scrap.

Receiver crafting recipe:

• 8 Planks.
• 6 Plastic.
• 2 Circuit Boards.
• 1 Hinge.

Antenna crafting recipe:

• 4 Scrap.
• 1 Circuit Board.
• 1 Bolt.

Battery crafting recipe:

• 1 Copper Ingot.
• 6 Plastic.
• 3 Scrap.

Once you've crafted those items, follow these steps to find the Radio Tower's location:

1. Place one Receiver on the raft.
2. Power the Receiver with the Battery.
3. Place one Antenna at least two blocks away and one block above the Receiver.
4. Place your second Antenna at least three blocks away from the first Antenna and two blocks away from the Receiver.
5. Place your third Antenna at least three blocks away from the other two antennas and two blocks away from the Receiver.

The Receiver will show the location of the Radio Tower on the screen once you have the correct configuration. Go there to pick up the Recycler blueprint from the top floor. Here's how to build the Recycler:

1. Gather the following items:
   • 6 Plastic.
   • 4 Metal Ingots.
   • 2 Bolts.
   • 2 Hinges.
   • 1 Circuit Board.
2. Open the Research Table.
3. Place the Recycler blueprint into the Research slot.
4. Press the "Research" button.
5. Press the "Learn" button next to the Recycler item.

Crafting Trash Cubes

Once the Recycler has been crafted, place it on your raft, and insert a fresh battery. Now you can start making Trash Cubes.

To make a single Trash Cube, load the Recycler with one of the following items (the necessary quantities are in parentheses):

• Stone (50x).
• Plastic (30x).
• Palm Leaf (30x).
• Feather (30x).
• Wood Plank (20x).
• Seaweed (15x).
• Rope (15x).
• Nail (15x).
• Vine Goo (12x).
• Clay (10x).
• Sand (10x).
• Scrap (10x).
• Glass (8x).
• Leather (6x).
• Ore (5x).
• Dirt (5x).
• Giant Clam (5x).
• Ingot (4x).
• Bolt (4x).
• Hinge (4x).
• Brick (3x).
• Wool (2x).

Wool is probably the most efficient material for crafting Trash Cubes. This resource can be obtained from the llamas, which can be farmed and sheared. It takes roughly 10 real-time minutes to craft one Trash Cube.

You can travel to any big island with a trading post and use Trash Cubes to purchase upgrade materials, fishing baits, and other necessary survival items. And that's everything you need to know on how to get Trash Cubes in Raft.