Old Town Sailing Canoe

John Janicek

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hello. I have a basket case of a canoe (missing one end) with the serial number 140391 on the surviving inside stem. I did not see a number after that indicating length. Am hoping you'll be able to identify this craft.
Thanks in advance for any reply. JohnJ
 
Congratulations, the Old Town with serial number 140391 is an 18 foot long, GS (Guide's Special or utility) grade, Guide model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, a keel, a mast seat, a mast step, and a rudder. It was built between July, and September, 1944. The exterior paint color was G. S. (Guide's Special) green. It shipped on June 6th, 1945 to Manhasset, New York. A scan showing this build record can be found below.

This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. 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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.

It is possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. The serial numbers were usually followed by the length but this was done by hand so mistakes did occur. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson



140391.jpg
 
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