The Old Town canoe with serial number 7468 is 17 feet long, CS (common sense or standard) grade, HW (heavy water) model with western red cedar planking, spruce gunwales, maple decks, thwarts and seats, spruce finish rails, and equipped with a keel. It was built in 1907-08, being finished on February 3, 1908. The exterior was originally painted dark red. It was shipped on February 15, 1908 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
There is no mention of sponsons on the build record, and it would be very unusual for sponsons to be not shown on the build record of a canoe equipped with them.
Is the serial number visible on the stem at the other end of the canoe?
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/catalogs/old-town/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-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.
When considering any restoration work, whether you plan to do it yourself or to hire a professional,
In addition to asking questions here, there are three good sources of information about canoe restoration that you would do well to get, or at least look at, before making any decision about how to repair or restore your canoe:
The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok
Building the Maine Guide Canoe by Jerry Stelmok
This Old Canoe: How To Restore Your Wood-Canvas Canoe, by Mike Elliott
The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe and its construction. The third is the most recently published and has been well received.
Of course, you can always ask questions here on the forums. There is a good deal of information here, and we are happy to share and pass on what we have learned.
You might also want to look at
The Old Town Canoe Company by Susan Audette and David Baker, a great history of the Old Town company and its canoes.
These books are all available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon.
As Michael says, a nice canoe, in good condition, and readily restorable. Good luck.
Greg