Old Town??? #241304

I just joined the WCHA forum. I plan to use this forum to help restore my first cedar strip canoe. I am very excited to see if you can identify my canoe. Serial number is 241304 stamped on the gunale.

Thank you in advance.

The serial number for Old Towns is typically stamped on the stems (both ends), so this may not be an Old Town. Posting pictures will help ID it, espexcially get pictures of the decks, stem profiles, seats, thwarts, and rib and panking patterns, if available.

Besides, we just like pictures of canoes...

Welcome to the forum!

The chart at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/oldtown_chart.html shows that the Old Town canoe with serial number 241304 probably shipped in the early 1980s. The scanned Old Town records stop at 210999 so none of us here have any newer information immediately available. You may be able to contact the customer service department at the Old Town Canoe Company and get a copy from their paper records if they are not too busy. Please reply here if they are not able to satisfy your request. There should also be a number on the starboard stern as required by the Coast Guard for a hull identification number (HIN). The information at http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm may help you decode the date from this number. Their format limits the serial number to five digits so Old Town simply omits the most significant digit to fit. Examples of the HIN on the starboard stern and the Old Town numbers from the inside stems are attached below from a similar canoe. Feel free to post another reply here if you have other questions. Good luck and welcome to the forum,

Benson

Thanks Paul for the quick response....

These are the only pictures that I have access to right now.

The canoe is approximately 11 1/2 feet long, 30" wide and about 11" deep. It was built as a tandem, but would be more suitable as a solo.

This does not appear to be an Old Town canoe and was probably home made. A picture of the serial number might help identify it.

Benson

Benson Gray said:

This does not appear to be an Old Town canoe and was probably home made. A picture of the serial number might help identify it.

Benson

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I can take a photo of the serial number, but it is very tuff to read the numbers with the naked eye.

I can tell you the number is located on the starboard side gunwale on the outside edge. It is stamped into the wood gunwale 4-5 times all the way from the stern to the bow. Is this any help with identification?

Unclewhoo said:

I can tell you the number is located on the starboard side gunwale on the outside edge. It is stamped into the wood gunwale 4-5 times all the way from the stern to the bow. Is this any help with identification?

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Not really, a HIN in that area should begin with a three letter code and end with an encoded date as described at http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm so a six digit number stamped several times doesn't match that pattern. The Old Town Canoe HINs begin with XTC as shown in the example picture that I attached. Your description sounds even more like a home made canoe. Sorry,

Benson

Benson Gray said:

Not really, a HIN in that area should begin with a three letter code and end with an encoded date as described at http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm so a six digit number stamped several times doesn't match that pattern. The Old Town Canoe HINs begin with XTC as shown in the example picture that I attached. Your description sounds even more like a home made canoe. Sorry,

Benson

Click to expand...

I don't understand why there would be numbers stamped into the gunwale if this is a homemade canoe.

Here are some photos of the number stamped into the gunwale.

Only the person who built it could answer that question!

Home builders often will put some identifying marks on their canoes in case of theft. I do. Could it be a driver's license #? Or even someone's address.