Old Town 40516-17

Chuck Hoffhine

Wooden Canoe Nut
Would one of the keepers of the golden records please run OT #40516-17? A good friend just bought same on eBay. Thanking you in advance. -Chuck
 
Chuck,
40516 was assigned to a 17' Charles River in AA Grade with mahogany stats, decks and thwarts. It also came with a keel, outside stems and a floor rack. There is no mention of sailing gear, but that could have been added later. It was originally painted ??Light blue?? (Script is difficult to read) and was delivered to Attleboro, MA in July of 1916. The build record is attached.

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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.
 

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Thanks Mike

I think that is it. No sailing stuff on this one. It does have the floor rack hold down. No o/s stems but from the pics it may have had at one time. We will get a confirm. on the number when he picks it up. He was hoping it was purchased by a notable like JFK or Obama or Julius Caesar or someone, it would be a little easier to sell on the home front. Any chance? -Chuck
 
HI Chuck,

The serial number on the canoe you asked about sure looks like 40516, but if this is correct and an Old Town, then it is a very different canoe than when built. As you can see, it looks like it was never a sailing canoe. It has been heavily restored- new decks, inwales, outwales, seat frames, etc. (none of which are mahogany now), and lots of new ribs. And of course in 1916, there would not have been diamind-head bolts, but these could have been added when gunwales were replaced. The big difference with the build record is the lack of outside stems. Maybe not the same canoe?

Michael
 
Good point, Michael. I didn't look at the flea-bay posting. This might be a different boat - Chuck, Check the numbers carefully and get bact to us.
 
Michael, I don't think there was a mention of a sailing rig on this canoe. The same seller did have a sailing Robertson that has been sold. Does it look like it may have had o/s stems given the width of end? The rails look new so that is no help. Could it be a Carlton number? -Chuck
 
Another number?

Chuck:

FWIW - I looked at the picture of the serial number on the ebay listing and I thought I could see the ghost of another digit before the "4". The photo is not great. May be worth taking a real hard look at both stems.
 
Hi Chuck,

Brian had thought that maybe this was a sailing canoe that was on Ebay. That's where "sailing" came from.

I agree that the trim looks replaced, so that's no help. As for outside stems, they could have been removed, but the one photo showing the canoe end isn't of sufficient detail to tell. At least after the early years of Old Town, it would be easy to tell if an outside stem was once there because the outer face of the inside stem would be wider than the 3/8" stemband. Early canoes and many of those from the Charles River builders, however, had narrow inner stems and to these were mated what I call "chubby" outside stems that were oval in cross section. If these were removed it wouldn't be so obvious. But if you were able to look at the face of the existing stem you could tell- there would be a single set of small diameter stemband screw holes if there were no outside stem originally. If there had been an outside stem, there would be set of larger holes from the screws that secured the outside stem to the inside stem.

I wondered the same as you and Fitz: (1) maybe this is a Carleton number, or (2) maybe there are some missing digits from an Old Town number. A Carleton would likely have had a carry thwart, but that's a moot point here because the gunwales have been replaced... any tell-tale bolt holes no longer exist.

Michael
 
Sorry. Didn't mean to confuse the issue. Just saw that someone in Ohio got a good deal on an OT with a sailing rig just before this thread started.
 
No problem Brian

Funny coincidence. At first I thought it had something to do with Michigan not being able to beat Ohio State in football. :eek: -Chuck
 
Chuck Hoffhine said:
Funny coincidence. At first I thought it had something to do with Michigan not being able to beat Ohio State in football. :eek: -Chuck

Or Appalachain State!

I went to the Green School; after getting my BS at Indiana. My two favorite teams in any given sport are whoever is playing U of M and Purdue!:cool:
 
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