Build record for OT 170638-18 needed

The Old Town canoe with serial number 170638 is an 18 foot long Otca model with a keel and sponsons. It was built between December, 1960 and February, 1961. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on March 24th, 1961 to Helena, Montana. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached below.

This scan and several hundred thousand more 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/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or renew your membership 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.php to renew.

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.

Benson
 

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Thanks, Benson. This matches the canoe I looked at. It also has a set of bilge keels that I have never seen on an OT canoe, and never heard anyone discuss before. They appear to be original to the canoe, but those and the sailing seat, mast step, and floor rack are also not listed on the build record. Any idea how common bilge keels were on OT canoes?
 
Any idea how common bilge keels were on OT canoes?

Bilge keels were common at summer camps. rental liveries, and other fleet environments where canoes were expected to see hard use and to be dragged up on a dock frequently. I don't have any hard numbers to create an estimate. A quick search for "bilge keels" here will locate a number of other messages on this topic. The build records during this period were lacked a lot of detail so it is not surprising that the variety of options found on your canoe were not mentioned.

Benson
 
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