I'm trying to make something like the Panama Canal - there's a piece of land, less than a hundred blocks wide, that if completely removed, would connect two larger oceans. So I did the obvious, crafted up a dozen shovels, and started clearing. The first problem - three tiny lakes in the region, which, when I dug up to them, started water flowing in all directions, making movement to continue digging downward, very hard. The second problem - opposing water currents due to the water generators from the lakes, which my boat can't get through (could also be a problem with the water not being deep enough, not sure).
I don't understand the water mechanics well :) So I'm wondering if it's even possible to build, what is basically a new river crossing a land barrier, with sufficient depth and smoothness of water, that one of those rickety wooden boats can survive crossing.
And if so, how? Is my current situation salvageable, or would I have needed to treat the lakes differently?
Just for the record, I'm not asking how to make an aboveground canal using wood + water sources, I have read about those.
Update - the rapids I first created, were salvageable, but required filling the entire area with blocks to drain it. Fortunately, (unlike the original Panama Canal) no workers died of malaria - although many annoying pigs/cows got the axe.
And had I known how long it was going to take, including boating to/from the site every day/night cycle - I'd have walled/roofed the whole thing over, so I could work there at night. I suspect it would have been faster overall...
"Fortunately, (unlike the original Panama Canal) no workers died of malaria - although many annoying pigs/cows got the axe."