How to Build a Rain Catcher in Sons of the Forest

Sons of the Forest puts you on an island with cannibals, mutants, and more. But aside from dealing with those foes, you’ve also got to keep yourself fed and hydrated. In the original The Forest, one handy way to get clean water was to craft a rain catcher. But how do you build a rain catcher in Sons of the Forest? Here’s the answer.

While Sons of the Forest Lets You Get the Parts for a Rain Collector, You Can’t Build One Right Now

Sons of the Forest is in early access, and it appears that while the components for a rain collector are in the game (sticks and a turtle shell), you can’t build one just yet. Sticks are easy to come by, and if you want a turtle shell, walk round the edge of the island till you find a turtle. Kill it, then take its shell. You can also harvest turtles for meat.

But no matter how you mess around with putting sticks in the sand, it appears there is no way to make a rain collector. You can’t even drop the shell on the ground and just use it that way. So while it rains, you can’t collect all that lovely clear water. The good news is that you probably don’t need to.

In the original The Forest, regular water was polluted. Yes, you could drink it, but it would damage your health. In the current Steam Early Access version, all inland water is drinkable, with no negative consequences — basically, it’s clean.

So, if you’re short on water, all you need to do is find a pond or river and drink from it. If you’re on the beach, just walk around till you see a river entering the sea. Then walk a few meters up the river and you should be able to drink from it. It’s as simple as that.

You can also get water from eating berries and from drinking the various cans you’ll find in suitcases and so forth. Generally, water isn’t really that big a problem right now in Sons of the Forest.

However, that may change — a later early access update could put polluted water back into the game. It could also add the ability to create rain collectors — we’d expect these two things to arrive together. If inland water becomes polluted, you’ll have a very real, very pressing reason to collect fresh water.

However, right now, the answer to how to build a rain catcher in Sons of the Forest is — you can’t.