The Lord commanded the people to go to work and build boats, “after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built.” And they “built barges after the manner which they had built,” only this time with additional “instructions of the Lord” (Ether 2:16). The new boats were “small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water” (Ether 2:16). Now “the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight” (Ether 3:1). And “they were tight like unto the ark of Noah” (Ether 6:7). The construction details of this second set of Jaredite boats possibly provide insights into the type of vessel Noah built, its mode of propulsion and the manner of construction.

These eight boats were not intended to be sailing vessels, unlike the first set of boats that crossed the “sea in the wilderness,” even though the “manner” of construction was to be similar. This second set of boats was designed by the Lord, not for sailing, but for drifting across the expansive Pacific Ocean on a long 344-day voyage (Ether 6:11). The boats were the “length of a tree,” possibly 40 to 50 feet (Ether 2:17). They were designed to hold out water, like a “dish” or bowl, on the top, side and bottom by being built “exceedingly tight.” Both ends were “peaked.” The door, probably located on the side of the bottom hull or part of the top deck and large enough for boarding people and animals, was also “tight like unto a dish” when it was shut.

The brother of Jared reported to the Lord that they had built the boats according to his instructions—boats built for drifting across an ocean. He then mentions three problems presented by the design of the vessels. These were new challenges, and challenges not encountered when constructing the first set of boats, otherwise the brother of Jared would already have had solutions. First, the watertight vessels had “no light” in them. Second, they had no means to steer or propel the vessels, so “whither [to which place] shall we steer” (Ether 2:19). Third, how would they obtain enough air in such tight boats, for “we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish” (Ether 2:19). The new problems of no ability to steer and no means of propulsion probably implies that the first set of boats was capable of being steered and being propelled by sails, and if those first boats had a somewhat open top rather than a completely watertight deck covering, there would have been no air problem and no need to provide additional light.