Walter Hauck
LOVES Wooden Canoes
We picked up a canoe in Kansas City over the week-end with a serial number of 139713. Can anyone date it? We're not sure it is an Old Town---it's just shy of 15 feet.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Old Town (?)Serial No. Search
- Thread starter Walter Hauck
- Start date
Kathryn Klos
squirrel whisperer
Hi Walter-- Old Town with serial number 139713 is a fifteen footer, so maybe it's your boat! It's a CS grade Ojibway, which I couldn't find pictured in the 1944 catalog (oops, I've already divulged the ship-date!). The canoe was built with Western red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, mahogany decks (on CS grade? Is this usual for this model, Benson or Dan, or was it maybe a special order?) spruce thwarts and a keel and painted aluminum. It was shipped June 27, 1944 to Kaw Council, Boy Scouts of America, Bonner Springs, KS.
If this doesn't sound like your boat, we can check elsewhere... does it have the traditional OT short deck?
I know you're a member, Walter, so will spare the blurb... will just remind you to keep up the good work for the WCHA, and I hope to see you at the Assembly in July.
For others reading this, Walter was able to get valuable information on his canoe because WCHA sponsored a project that put the records of Old Town Canoe on CD, to be preserved for All of Time and for easy retrieval by those who are curious. Donations and memberships help fund projects like this.
Kathy
If this doesn't sound like your boat, we can check elsewhere... does it have the traditional OT short deck?
I know you're a member, Walter, so will spare the blurb... will just remind you to keep up the good work for the WCHA, and I hope to see you at the Assembly in July.
For others reading this, Walter was able to get valuable information on his canoe because WCHA sponsored a project that put the records of Old Town Canoe on CD, to be preserved for All of Time and for easy retrieval by those who are curious. Donations and memberships help fund projects like this.
Kathy
Attachments
Walter Hauck
LOVES Wooden Canoes
15 Ft. Old Town
Kathy---Thanks for your quick reply! This does seem to be our canoe. It has mahogany decks on both ends, and someone has cut small holes into them for carrying. It came with a home-built sailing rig. The next-to-last owner was a shop teacher in Overland Park, Kansas, and the rudder is simply the arm rest and writing surface from an old wooden desk. He sold it at a yard sale about five years ago to the man whom we bought it from. Ribs seems to be in pretty good shape. It has been fiberglassed.
Marty
Kathy---Thanks for your quick reply! This does seem to be our canoe. It has mahogany decks on both ends, and someone has cut small holes into them for carrying. It came with a home-built sailing rig. The next-to-last owner was a shop teacher in Overland Park, Kansas, and the rudder is simply the arm rest and writing surface from an old wooden desk. He sold it at a yard sale about five years ago to the man whom we bought it from. Ribs seems to be in pretty good shape. It has been fiberglassed.
Marty
The wooden Ojibway model was never advertised in the catalogs but appears to have been built on the same form as the fifty pound, lightweight, and trapper models. It frequently had a hand hold cut into the deck and they were often ordered by the Boy Scout organizations. I suspect that the use of mahogany for the decks was simply a matter of not having many other woods available in the middle of the Second World War. Good luck with the restoration,
Benson
Benson
Walter Hauck
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Pics of OT Ojibwa #139713
Thanks, Benson--
I took some pictures and measurements of the Ojibwa. The decks are 10" long from the point to the inside of the curve. The cut-out hand holds are small; three of my fingers fit. The ribs looks to be full-sized, 2-3/8" wide and a full 3/8" thick at the keel. Spacing between the 14 ribs averaged out to 1.285". It seems to be a small over-built canoe---just what a Scout camp would need. The seats are not original and I can only find three places where threre is an imprint ghost of diamond head bolts. Could there only have been three thwarts and no seats? Does anyone remember this configuration being used at a Scout camp?
Wally
Thanks, Benson--
I took some pictures and measurements of the Ojibwa. The decks are 10" long from the point to the inside of the curve. The cut-out hand holds are small; three of my fingers fit. The ribs looks to be full-sized, 2-3/8" wide and a full 3/8" thick at the keel. Spacing between the 14 ribs averaged out to 1.285". It seems to be a small over-built canoe---just what a Scout camp would need. The seats are not original and I can only find three places where threre is an imprint ghost of diamond head bolts. Could there only have been three thwarts and no seats? Does anyone remember this configuration being used at a Scout camp?
Wally
Attachments
JMETZ
Curious about Wooden Canoes
Yes
I have a 1941 HW 16' (see avatar). The build record showed "low ends, aluminum paint, and 3 thwarts/no seats". The original paddles are branded "FOCBSA" for Fort Orange Council Boy Scouts Of America. This topic was discussed 1-2 years ago on this forum. I believe the BSA liked to teach "proper" paddling techniques from a kneeling position. Your build record seems to indicate seats; mine had a definite reference to the seat omition.
I have a 1941 HW 16' (see avatar). The build record showed "low ends, aluminum paint, and 3 thwarts/no seats". The original paddles are branded "FOCBSA" for Fort Orange Council Boy Scouts Of America. This topic was discussed 1-2 years ago on this forum. I believe the BSA liked to teach "proper" paddling techniques from a kneeling position. Your build record seems to indicate seats; mine had a definite reference to the seat omition.
