At the very beginning, your raft will follow the current on its own.
After a while you should craft a Sail [Plank(10), Palm Leaf(20), Scrap(3)] and a Streamer [Plank(6), Rope(3), Nail(3)]. The Sail will allow you to control where your raft is going and if you’re following the current, it will make your raft go much faster. The Streamer is a little flag that shows you in what direction the said current is going, allowing you to point the Sail in the same way.
If you aim your Sail in the complete opposite of the current, your raft will be really slow or even stop moving altogether.
How to Craft and Use Receiver
The next step is to craft a Receiver [Plank(8), Plastic(6), Circuit Board(2), Hinge(1)] and 3 Antennas [Scrap(4), Circuit Board(1), Bolt(1) for each]. To be able to craft them, you first need to find the blueprints for them in barrels, which will automatically unlock them in your Research Table.
The Receiver and Antennas need to be on a higher floor, not next to each other but not too far either. The Antennas will turn green when positioned correctly. If they are red, turn on the Receiver which will tell you what’s wrong ( not high enough, too far… ).
You need a Battery [Copper Ingot(1), Plastic(6), Scrap(3)] to make the Receiver work. It will slowly deplete itself and when it’s dead you need to place a new one and get rid of the old one (for now you can’t recharge them).
The Receiver when on will show you a radar and you will receive a note with coordinates, those coordinates can be entered by using the buttons and lever on the receiver’s right. A blue square should appear on your receiver with a number indicating how far it is (the bigger the number, the farther it is). Turn your Sail in the direction of the blue square and turn off the Receiver to not use too much of your Battery. Come back regularly to check you’re still going in the right direction.
The blue square will lead you to the 1st story place and after visiting that place you’ll have coordinates for another story place and green dots will also start to appear on your radar. The green dots will show you the way to Large Islands!
Keep an eye on the horizon, there’s much to explore!