old town canoe purchased

[SOMETYMZ]

hello I acquired this canoe on Saturday, can someone please help me with its age and purchase history, I would love to know more about it. the serial number is 174027

any Ideas on value as it sits as opposed to restored? thanks scott

 

[pklonowski]

Someone who has the Old Town records will be along before too long. The thread at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?57-How-much-is-my-old-wooden-canoe-worth should give you some guidelines as to what it's worth... Value has a lot of variables in it, so it's hard to pin down. Generally, folks here will tell you that the cost of a professional restoration will end up being more than the final sale value, but if you can do the work yourself, you might come out ahead...

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 174027 is a 17 foot long Otca model with a keel and narrow two and three quarter inch planking. It was built between June and July, 1964. The original exterior paint color was brilliant green. It shipped on June 23rd, 1966 to Portland, Oregon. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan and several hundred thousand more 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. It is usually best financially to sell a canoe like this unrestored as Paul suggested and the link he posted should give you a good idea of the value. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[SOMETYMZ]

thank you for the information thats awesome

how long do you wait between filling coats?

The Old Town canoe with serial number 174027 is a 17 foot long Otca model with a keel and narrow two and three quarter inch planking. It was built between June and July, 1964. The original exterior paint color was brilliant green. It shipped on June 23rd, 1966 to Portland, Oregon. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan and several hundred thousand more 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. It is usually best financially to sell a canoe like this unrestored as Paul suggested and the link he posted should give you a good idea of the value. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[SOMETYMZ]

thank you sir and you was right

 

[goldencub]

My OTCA was canvassed 3/6/64 and yours was canvassed 6/25/64. So that's 334 canoes put out by Old Town in about 115 days, or, say, about 3 every day, including the weekends. I wonder how that compares with their production during their best years? Benson??? Al D

 

[Benson Gray]

I wonder how that compares with their production during their best years?

The record production year for Old Town wooden canoes was 1916 with 7225 units which is nearly 20 per day. The annual production totals in 1923 and 1924 nearly matched this. These records were not exceeded until 1973 but plastic canoes were the bulk of that peak. The information at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/models.html breaks this all down by model and length. That article also says "Their millionth serial number was issued in 2003. They are focused on plastic kayaks now and this represents an average of 62,500 per year." This works out to nearly 174 per day.

The information at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?13053 shows a comparison to a few other manufacturers. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson

 

[goldencub]

Thanks, Benson - that's just what I wanted to know. Al D

 

[Dave Osborn]

Benson,
Any idea of how many wooden canoes and boats that came from the Old Town factory??
Dave

 

[Benson Gray]

Any idea of how many wooden canoes and boats that came from the Old Town factory?

The simple answer is about 174,000 depending on how you define your terms. Old Town's first fiberglass canoe was the FG model as shown in the 1965 catalog. The build records for these first start appearing with serial numbers in the 174,000 range so everything before that was made out of wood.

Things quickly get more complex when you start to consider Old Town's other serial number sequences. Old Town purchased the Carleton Canoe company in 1910 and ran it until the 1940s. Carleton issued roughly 12,540 serial numbers including batteaux during this time while Old Town maintained the brand. Old Town also used separate serial number sequences for their wooden flat bottomed row boats (1-9733), skiffs (1-5525), and all cedar racing canoes (1-35).

Everything combined is well over 200,000 wooden boats and canoes. A more accurate estimate would require a manual search through thousands of build records to determine how many wooden boats and canoes were made after 1965. The charts at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12101 will give you some idea about how quickly plastics overtook wood production at Old Town. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Dave Osborn]

Thanks... People have asked and I've always said about 200,000.