18' Old Town Ser# 157144/18

[Brian Barr]

Fairly certain from Washington DC Canoe Club or my Uncle James Livesay who was a well know figure there for probably 40 years. Last time I was in DC, the canoe club had been deemed unsafe, but for some reason a government agency had taken up residency. Hmmm. Anyway, the canoe somehow made its way to Pensacola in the 70's or 80's and ended up sitting in a barn at my sisters house in Munson, FL. As you can probably tell, I am very excited about restoring her back to original. Looks like i need to replace the bottom of my shop door also... Thank You!

 

[Benson Gray]

Congratulations and welcome, the Old Town canoe with serial number 157144 is an 18 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Otca model with a keel and a floor rack. It was built between February and May, 1952. The original exterior paint was similar to the one shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design32.gif which was known as the design number 32. It shipped on May 6th, 1952 to Washington, D. C. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.



This scan and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson

 

[Brian Barr]

Wow you are fast! This is so cool and so glad you guys started this thread and have preserved so much history. Thanks Again.