The paper boat template, flat and folded
What this template is for
A cut-and-glue boat: a flat bottom with a square stern and a pointed bow, and walls that lean out like a real hull, with a sail on a straw if you want one. Any size. Kids' crafts, party tables, nautical decor and pirate parties.
Also called paper boat · paper ship template · boat craft template · paper sailboat — all the same shape, and this is it.
- Kids’ crafts and pirate parties
- Nautical table decor and place cards
- Boat races in a paddling pool
- Sweets and favour boats
How to use this template
All four downloads are the same paper boat at the same size — only the format changes.
- PDF printing at home
- Print at 100 per cent, or hand it to a print shop as "actual size, no scaling".
- PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate
- Upload, lock it in place and design your paper boat on top. Free plan and phone included. Full Canva walkthrough →
- SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity
- Vector, with cuts, folds and labels on separate layers. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
- DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters
- Two layers, CUT and FOLD — and the one free Silhouette Studio Basic will open.
Printing it
- Type your size above, then download the PDF.
- Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
- Too big for the paper? Pick your paper size and leave Fit the pieces to the page ticked: each piece gets its own place on a sheet and the PDF comes out with every page in it, nothing cut in half and nothing to tape.
How to put it together
These pictures are the paper boat itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.
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Cut the solid lines
Every solid line is a cut. Do the inside shapes first, while the sheet is still whole and easy to hold.
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Score every dashed line
Dashed lines are folds. Score each one first — an empty ballpoint against a ruler — or the card cracks along the outside of the bend.
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Fold, glue and hold
Cut out the boat and score every dashed line. Fold the five walls up. Glue each tab inside the wall next to it, starting at the bow. For the sail, fold the THWART's end tabs down and glue them inside the two SIDE walls, across the top. Push a straw or skewer through the two holes in the SAIL, then down through the thwart's hole to the bottom, and fix it there with a dab of glue or clay. Paper soaks up water: give it a coat of wax crayon or clear tape before it goes on a pond.
Glue: a glue stick for paper, white PVA on card — hold each seam thirty seconds, and let the box dry standing up.
Questions about the paper boat
- Is this the folded newspaper boat?
- No — this one is cut out and glued, so it can be any size, keeps its shape and stands up straight. The folded newspaper boat is not on the site yet.
- Will it float?
- For a while. Paper soaks up water, so rub wax crayon over the outside or cover it in clear tape first, and it will sail a paddling pool.
- How do the walls fit?
- Each wall leans out by the angle you set, and each one is drawn at its true size, so the seams meet exactly. One glue tab per corner, on the inside.
- Will it print on one sheet?
- At the size it opens with, 170 mm long, the boat prints on one A4 or US Letter sheet and the sail and thwart on a second.
Print your own design on it
Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the paper boat. It is trimmed to the cut outline, embedded properly in the PDF, and never leaves your computer — most free template sites hand you the outline and stop there. How printing your own design works.
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