Hi, I just got a 1947 Old Town Canoe that I would like to restore, . . . I was also wondering where I would find the history of her, I think I found the number on the bottom of the canoe.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 147575 is 17 feet long, AA (top or premium) grade, HW (heavy water) model with Maine cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, and while not specified on the build record, the seat, thwarts, and decks on a AA grade canoe would usually be mahogany. It was fitted with a keel and a floor rack. It was built in 1947, with varnishing finished on March 25, 1947. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on April 2,1947 to Minneapolis, Minn. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. 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/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and
http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. If that is the case, photographs of the deck, side profile, seats, and other details would be helpful in identifying the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
You may wish to check this link:
http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8743-1945(-)-Old-Town-Serial-147575-17
Someone earlier requesting the build record gives some possible background on the canoe.
Greg