Another Serial Number for ya!
- Thread starter Chris Pelkey
- Start date
Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 52840 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, a keel, and sponsons. It was built between November, 1918 and May, 1919. The original exterior paint color was royal blue. It was shipped on May 29th, 1919 to Ticonderoga, New York. 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 join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,
Benson
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 join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,
Benson
Chris Pelkey
New Member
So I have read that the HW was for Henry Wicksteed, a canadian civil engineer who made contributions to the design of canoes. Is there any truth to that? And would it take away from the value of the restoration to do a hardwood gunwale vice the spruce ones on the original build? Finally, what does "closed" gunwale mean? Sorry so many questions, but they probably won't be the last! ;-)
Chris Pelkey
New Member
I have put hardwood (oak, maple) gunwales on some canoes I intended to keep. They look good but add considerable weight to the canoe. If your goal is to do a restoration, then sell, you will most likely not recoup your costs.
Many canoes built before 1920 were built 'closed gunwale', meaning the rib tips were shaved thin, tacked to the inwale, and outwale tacked to the outside of the hull and a cap tacked over top the both of them, thus hiding the rib tips. Looks fine, but water evaporates more slowly from the enclosed space, so more rot prone. The transition to the open gunwale style of build where you easily see the rib tips sandwiched between inwale & outwale, occurred over years in the teens and 20's.
HW has been debated often. Doubtful it can be confirmed. Tom McCloud
Many canoes built before 1920 were built 'closed gunwale', meaning the rib tips were shaved thin, tacked to the inwale, and outwale tacked to the outside of the hull and a cap tacked over top the both of them, thus hiding the rib tips. Looks fine, but water evaporates more slowly from the enclosed space, so more rot prone. The transition to the open gunwale style of build where you easily see the rib tips sandwiched between inwale & outwale, occurred over years in the teens and 20's.
HW has been debated often. Doubtful it can be confirmed. Tom McCloud
The short answer is that no one knows for sure what the HW was supposed to stand for since there is virtually no documentation for most of the various theories. Dan Miller's message at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=1806 has a good summary of this. The oral tradition was that Henry Wickett was one of the first Old Town employees and the HW model was named for him as reported in Rollin and Jerry's book. Sue Audette's research for her book which came out later indicated that Henry Wickett never worked there and that his son Alfred Wickett was the first employee of the Old Town Canoe Company. Roger MacGregor's book came out even later and suggested that HW might have been for a Canadian designer named Henry Wicksteed who was a friend of J. R. Robertson. This last theory seems the least likely since the HW model was listed in the Indian Old Town Canoe Company catalog from 1901 before Robertson became involved in 1902. It is very popular with many Canadians though. Alfred's brother Humphrey Wickett also worked at Old Town for many years so this may be another possibility. The Old Town catalogs consistently described the HW model as being good for heavy water in the same way that the IF or Guide's model was described as being based on an Indian fishing canoe.
The diagram on the bottom of the page at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/specific.gif shows the differences between closed and the open gunwales from the top as Tom mentioned. Questions are good,
Benson
The diagram on the bottom of the page at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/specific.gif shows the differences between closed and the open gunwales from the top as Tom mentioned. Questions are good,
Benson
jimgoodale
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Here is where I am at. I have a 16ft sponson canoe/ boat. The man I bought it from called it a Sebago square stern with built in sponsons. His father in law owned it and glassed it in 1957. My resaer h has shown that Carlton martin built boats in East sebago Maine from 1890 thru 1920( I dont know if this turned Into the sebago canoe and boat company that made boats in the 50s) I found numbers in the center up front 15-1/2 30341. The man I bought it fro. Thought that they had glassed over a wooden boat but since it has invisible sponsons I am assuming that it was canvas from the beginning? Anyone know what I have ?I did post some pictures on another thread.
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