April Fools Day Canoe
Hi Paul--
I don't intend to indicate this canoe is a joke-- it's just that it was shipped on April 1, 1953... after being finished that year from January-March.
Old Town 159175 is an 18 foot AA grade HW model canoe with half-ribs, keel, floor rack, sponsons, and rub rails. It was originally painted design #45, then shipped to a Gambles store in Clare, MI. No mention of a sail rig, but perhaps the folks at Gambles added that on and it was essentially original to the boat.
Does it still look pretty?
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 anyone reading this will join or renew 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 renew.
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
