Two new projects... A little ID help please Benson!

[Howie]

Picked up two new Old Town projects in New England this weekend.


First is in wonderful shape - got it in Western Mass near the NY border. Serial # 176498-16. The fella started to restore it but stopped for some reason. Good thing too - he used gigantic copper 'tacks' that are going to be fun removing. I'm guessing it came from the 60's as it has aluminum stem bands, 2 3/4" (white cedar?) planking, and machine-made seat caning. Also has a center carry thwart. Only has 2 cracked ribs. Also came with spare planking the former restorer had bought. Included was an Old Town canoe repair kit in the original box. Inside is a selection of tacks, canvas patches, a small bottle of green paint (still good!), and instructions.


The other canoe is an Old Town in need of a lot of love. But it was a freebee! Serial # ?66??? Maybe 166384 or 166381. Got it near New Haven Connecticut.

Lots of fun driving home to NY with one on top of a Subaru Forester plus a small canoe trailer against a 20 mph headwind!

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 176498 is a 16 foot long Otca model with a keel. It was built between July, 1966 and January, 1967. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on May 18th, 1967 to Kalispell, Montana.

The Old Town with serial number 166384 is an 18 foot long Lapstrake Ocean Boat model so that clearly isn't the correct number for your canoe. The Old Town with serial number 166381 is an 18 foot long Otca with sponsons so that probably isn't the correct number for your canoe either. I tried several similar numbers and couldn't find a better match. Can you attach some pictures of the serial numbers from each end and confirm the length?

Scans of these build records can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below. These scans were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. 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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.html 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.

Benson

 

[Howie]

Thanks for the info Benson. A better ID on the canoe with the unreadable serial # will have to wait 'till it gets restored.