Production card for Old Town canoe with sailing rig

[rederick]

Greetings,

I'm new to the Wooden Canoe Heritage and am pleased to find that the Old Town production cards have been scanned and are available for reference. Just this morning I removed #88530 17 from the boat house at my grandparents home. It had been suspended from the rafters for 40 years or more. It is in good condition. I was able to put it in the water and paddle away. It is set up with the sailing rig. If you would be able to let me know please how to access the production card for this canoe I would be grateful. Thanks.

Kind regards.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 88530 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, half ribs, a keel, and outside stems. It was built between October, 1925 and May, 1926. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on June 3rd, 1926 to Niantic, Conn. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image 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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.

It is also possible that they could have another number or manufacturer if this description don't match the canoe. There is no mention of a sail rig so that was probably added after it first left the factory. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Hi

Just had to jump in. I have been watching for numbers close to mine. You have a canoe with a ser, no. Less than one hundred from my own 88445. That's the closest I've seen.
Enjoy your canoe!

 

[rederick]

Hi Benson,

Thanks you so much for your lightning quick reply. I enjoyed getting the information. The build materials appear to be the same. It is possible that the sailing rig was installed after factory. Can you point me to a place where I can see a list of equipment that the sailing set up included. The boat house is packed solid with stuff and searching for the parts may be helped by knowing what I am looking for. I did find rudder, mast, dagger boards and some beautiful period paddles. I found a sail tucked into a canvas sack but not sure if that is the correct sail. I'm sure that others have inquired about this information and I will search a bit more here to see what I can find.

The canvas is in good shape but there are a few cracks and after about an hour of paddling with two people, a slight bit of water was seeping through in a couple of places. I'll leave the restoration project to a winter. In the mean time, does anyone have a recommendation for a material that they have used for sealing old canvas. Thanks!

 

[rederick]

It's just amazing that 200,000 canoes were built and well documented, and here they are available to us. Thanks to the folks that made that possible.

 

[JClearwater]

Rederick,

Where are you and the canoe located? The WCHA has members all around the globe so there my be a local chapter and members close enough to you that could help you in person.

Sounds like you got a nice canoe. Good luck with the restoration, don't hesitate to ask questions - even stupid ones here on the forum.

Jim C.

 

[Benson Gray]

The pictures at http://canoesailingmagazine.com/index.php/Issue-4/The-Good-Times-A-1931-Old-Town.html should help you put the pieces together. Another good resource is "Canoe Rig - The Essence and the Art" by Todd Bradshaw which is available from http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/prod...d=436&osCsid=62f6833df1c7adb1b335034ea61b625e in the WCHA store. The information at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=969 and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=4107 may help you identify and date your sailing rig. The information at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/models.html indicates that well over a million serial numbers have been issued to date.
Paint works well for sealing minor leaks in an old canvas and duct tape can help if you want a temporary solution to a larger split. The longer term solution is usually a new canvas once it starts to leak a lot. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson
Benson