Add a custom boat to your FiveM server

What a FiveM boat is made of

A drivable boat in FiveM is a vehicle resource like a car, with a few parts that matter more on water:

• The model (.yft and a close-up _hi.yft) with its textures (.ytd).
• Collision shaped like the hull. GTA floats a boat by sampling the water against this collision, so it decides whether the boat sits level, lists to one side or sinks.
• handling.meta with a CBoatHandlingData block: thrust, rudder force, drag, and how the bow rises at speed.
• vehicles.meta with VEHICLE_TYPE_BOAT, the layout (seats and entry points), the camera and the engine sound.
• carvariations.meta for paint and the mod kit.
• fxmanifest.lua listing the meta files in the right order.

Most “my boat sinks” or “my boat flips” reports come from the collision or the mass, not from the model.

Why converting a car model rarely works

Copying a car’s handling onto a hull gives the wrong mass and no boat handling block. Copying a car’s collision gives a box that floats like a brick. And without a boat layout the player either cannot get in or teleports into the seat from far away.

The reliable way is to start from a real GTA boat of the same size and style, keep its handling and layout, and replace the look and the hull.

Build it in the browser

1. Import the model. Upload your file or search the built-in Sketchfab library. Turn the model until the bow faces the arrow and press Sit in water. Set the real length in metres if the model has no scale.
2. Pick the boat type. Dinghy for small inflatables, Squalo, Jetmax and Tropic for speedboats, Suntrap for open bowriders, Marquis for sailboats, Tug for work boats and Seashark for jet skis. Use Handling to adjust power, top speed, balance (if it sits nose up or down) and weight height (lower is steadier).
3. Place seats and parts. Every seat shows a GTA ped in the pose the game uses. Drag each one onto the seat of your model. Under Moving parts, pick the propeller and the rudder on the model so they spin and turn in game. Use Remove pieces to drop stands, trailers or water planes that came with the model.
4. Choose an engine sound from any GTA boat, set colours and finishes, give the boat a spawn name and press Build boat.

Install and test

Put the downloaded folder in your resources, add ensure <name> to server.cfg and restart. Spawn the boat in the water: boats do not move on land. If it sits nose down or nose up, change Balance and build again; rebuilding the same boat is free.

Police and rescue boats

Boats can carry the same native emergency lights as cars: GTA lightbars or LED strips, flashing in game with the normal siren key. The exported resource also plays the siren sound for everyone nearby, because GTA’s boat audio has no siren of its own.