1937 Old Town sailing dinghy

[Theurkauf]

I just picked up a 14 ft Old Town sailing dinghy, serial number 121393, at the boat auction at the NH Boat Museum. I've restored a few old boats, including a wood/canvas canoe, but nothing like this. It will need canvas and perhaps a new stem, but there is no obvious rot or cracked ribs, and it appears to have all of the original hardware, with the exception on one turnbuckle and 2 (of 4) oar locks. Old Town sent the build card, so I know it was built in 1937 and delivered to Meredith NH. I have a couple questions someone out there may be able to help with.

1. How many of these were built, and how many survive?

2. Anyone have pictures/diagrams of this boat? Old Town sent a picture from the catalog of a standard dinghy, but the deck on my boat is longer and the seat lay out is different due to the centerboard.

3. I would call it a sliding gunter rigged cat boat. I stepped the mast and raised what's left of the sail, but it isn't clear to me exactly how the main sheet should be rigged. Anyone have a photo or diagram of this rig?

Thanks,
Bill Theurkauf

 

[Roger Young]

Bill:

Re your question # 1: "how many sailing dinghies were built, and just how many survive?"

As it happens, I am presently scouring the OT build records (courtesy of cd records from Benson Gray) to determine, relatively closely, the number of 4' and 8' display or sample models that were built over the years. Because the shorter dinghy lengths also stand out fairly readily when doing a quick scan (and because I am a sometime dinghy sailor), I decided to also try to make a rough 'head count' of dinghies on my way through. It's tedious work trying to scan through 120,000-odd files - the eyes fail, the numbers fade, the mind wanders.

However, if you bear with me for a few weeks, I may be able to come up with some numbers. I can tell you, for the moment, that I have found references to "dinghies" in various lengths: 7-1/2', 8', 9', 10', 10-1/2', 11-1/2', and 13-1/2'. Just looking through the '80,000 range' of serial numbers from the 1920's, I can tell you that nearly 200 9' dinghies were made, along with just over 150 11-1/2' dinghies. I have seen scattered references to a dozen or so 13-1/2' lapstrake "sailboats" in the years closer to yours, but I am quite sure there will be many more found when I get to that period.

For the kayak types, I can even tell you that I have found at least three built by Old Town during 1924/25 - two 10' and one 12'.

Please appreciate that my attempts at counting are human, and therefore fallible. Also, these numbers will only suggest the reasonably likely production figures. Just how many remain today can only be guessed at.

I'm about to dive back into the files; see you again when I re-surface in a few weeks.

Roger Y.

 

[Roger Young]

Bill:
This may or may not help with your request for info re 14' OT sailing dinghies from the late 1930's. I have just been going through build records in the 122000 and 123000 series, which follow your boat's build number from the 121000 #'s. We're still talking boats built in around 1937, and sold in 1938, or thereabouts.

I wasn't particularly hunting for 14' sailing dinghies, but some records did 'jump off the page', so I noted them down. I found four "metal type sailing dinghies" in the 14' AA style: 122196, 122218, 123022 and 123039. There could well be others. Build notes show these dinghies being supplied with a 72' sail, and even a jib sail. There were other cards simply noting "14' dinghy" as well. Found one more of these 14' 'metal' types amongst the 124000 series: 124326

The "sailing metal dinghy" seems to have been even more popular in the 11-1/2' length; I found fourteen of those (again, there could be others): 122015, 122083, 122106, 122131, 123275, 123323, 123367, 123399, 123429, 123686, 123770, 123859, 123906 and 123974. Found about 16 more of the 11-1/2' 'metal sailing' types in the 124000 series, but did not keep track of the numbers as they were obviously not uncommon.

Hope this helps.