new/ old OTCA made it to Mich.

[dave dekker]

I'm like a kid at the candy store today, the Otca made it to Mich from Ma. thanks to UPS.
I'm looking at the serial No. in the bow and stern and find # 13983 17 not sure of the nine but the rest seem to be the same. As I look through the forum it seems like all canoes have six numbers. It was in the classifieds 1930s 17 ft otca AA $1700 with photos (the canoe has a keel). Thanks for any help on the build date. As a new member I sure do love this forum.
dave

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Congratulations on your canoe. We may need to do more work to find the build record however. One thing you could try is to ask the seller if they have the build information, or how they determined it was from the '30s and an AA Otca.

Old Town 13983 is a 17 foot AA (top) grade HW (heavy water) canoe that was completed March 1910 to February 1911, with red Western cedar planking, CLOSED spruce gunwales, mahogany decks/thwarts/seat frames, a keel, sponsons, and a floor rack. It was shipped to Baltimore, MD, on March 3,1911. I'll attach this scan. Check out the details carefully and post pictures if you're unsure. Sponsons can be removed but there are tell-tale signs of them... little carry thwarts are often present, and screw holes under the gunwales. An HW model would have a different deck from an Otca-- it would be the short "ogee shape" deck, commonly seen on OTs, and the Otca deck until 1957 is a long deck with coaming.

The serial number would come out in the 1930s if it's actually 113XXX and not 13XXX... but I ran every serial number 113X83 and got the following (these are all 1933-34)

113083 16' AA HW
113183 11' CS 50#
113283 17' CS Otca (sent to Cleveland, OH)
113383 16' AA HW
113483 15' CS 50#
113583 15' CS 50#
113683 18' CS HW
113783 16' CS HW
113883 17' CS HW
113983 16' CS HW 1934

I also ran it as a Carlton and 13983 is a 17' CS grade Carleton model shipped to Springfield MA in 1919.

You may want to take a picture of the stem and post so we can try some other possibilities.
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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.

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.




Kathy

 

[Dave Osborn]

never heard of using UPS as a shipper. Was it crated? How much did it cost?

 

[dave dekker]

Thanks for the fast reply Kathy. At first look I thought it was a four so it may say 43983 it will take better eyes then mine, plus the metal oval name tag is red with black letters white background and gold trim, is that after the 30's?
I just joined last week and looking forward to the michigan group.

Dave it was not in a crate, it was in heavy cardboard with 2 inches of bubble wrap plus shrink wrap 375.00 with insurance, from UPS store to UPS store in Cadillac. 3 days

cadillac

 

[pklonowski]

What's on the metal oval name tag?

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Your canoe does look like a AA-grade Otca but much earlier than 1930s (no diamond head bolts). No. 43983 would make it about 1917 which seems right for the way it looks. The metal tag was added later- it is a modern tag and not correct for the boat.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Old Town 43983 is a 17 foot CS (common sense or middle) grade Otca model canoe, completed July 1916-July 1917, with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks/thwarts/seat frames, and a keel. Original color was dark green. It was shipped to Schoverling, Daly and Gales (sporting goods dealer) in NYC on August 20, 1917. Image of the scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image.

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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.

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.

This may not be the correct record if your canoe is in fact AA grade, but if the wood species match, this might be right. If you take a picture of the serial number and post it, we may all have a shot at the numbers and get the right record if we aren't quite there yet.

Kathy

 

[dave dekker]

thanks all for reply. It is a newer tag with red and gold letters I will try to get a photo of serial number and post I think I have the 43-83 right but the nine or what ever may not be found. Are the Old Town records on disk that I can purchase ?

 

[Dan Miller]

Are the Old Town records on disk that I can purchase ?

Of course they are! http://store.wcha.org/product.php?productid=17587