OT serial number

[Dave Osborn]

Hi Guys!
Can you please post the build record for 32978-17.
The seats on this one are different in that there are no holes for cane. A pre-woven cane was stapled to a little frame and screwed in the center of the seat. Have you seen that style on other Old Towns?
Best Regards and Happy Holidays to ALL!!
Dave Osborn

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 32978 is a 17 foot long, AA grade, Ideal model with western red cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, AA decks, AA trim, half ribs, a keel, and outside stems. It was built between July, 1914 and February, 1915. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It shipped on May 5th, 1915 to Wausaw, Wisconsin. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan was created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. Additional information about 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 join or contribute to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.html to join.

I suspect that the seats and cane have been replaced since your description doesn't sound like any Old Town seat that I have ever seen before.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description don't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Fitz]

Santa?

Dave:

How'd Santa get that one down the chimney?

 

[Dave Osborn]

Boy Fitzy, I wish I could say it was my canoe. It will be a pretty one with all of the bright red fine grained mahogany. I'm doing the restoration for the North Lakeland Discovery Center as a favor to them. They are a not for profit outdoor education facilityThey actually have two 25' war canoes that they would like to have restored, too. I can't fit them in the shop, so I told them I'd do this one.
I'll probably have it done for Canoecopia........Come out to the midwest in Mid-March and have a look!

 

[Dave Osborn]

Seat Photos

Here are pics of the unusual seat/cane arrangement on this 1915 AA Ideal. They could well be replacements, as Benson suggests, but they sure look like OT seats.
Comments?

Dave

 

[Dan Miller]

FWIW, Mullins put their cane in using a similar method (but a little different than this). I've never seen it in an Old Town. When did machine woven cane become available? Isn't 1915 a little early for that?

Cheers,
Dan