Old Town 14 foot Wooden Boat serial number inquiry

Rob Reynolds

New Member
Serial number 156106. 1950s era. After 40 years I bought back the wooden boat I ran as a teenager. Need restoration and a few parts to be whole - digging into the history as the start of the project.
 
Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town with serial number 156106 is a 14 foot long, all wood outboard model with a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. It was built between June and July, 1951. The exterior paint color was red. It was shipped on July 16th, 1951 to Pompton Plains, New Jersey. The back side of the record indicates that there was a previous request for a copy of this build record from Wyckoff, New Jersey in February, 1981. Scans showing both sides of this build record can be found below.

These scans 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 donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your boat. See https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/5504/ for a similar boat. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson



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Benson, I guess this question is for you. On boats of this type was there a time (year) when there was a fiberglass skin put on or used by Old Town . From the waterline or spray rails down? vs canvas or just planked. thanks, Dave
 
On boats of this type was there a time (year) when there was a fiberglass skin put on or used by Old Town.

The short answer is no. The longer answer is that the all wood outboard models were listed in the catalogs from 1949 to 1956. Old Town's first fiberglass canoe didn't appear until the 1965 catalog. The sport boat model was listed in the 1970 and 1971 catalogs as "Available with reinforced plastic in place of canvas" but none of their other wooden boats with transoms ever were. This has been a common restoration technique for many years as you probably know well. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson
 
Thanks Benson, I knew the canoes with glass didn't show up till the 60s but I wasn't sure about other boats.
 
Benson-

Thanks so much for the build sheet. The NJ address in the back was of the previous owner I bought the boat from. Wondering if there is a guide to 1951 Old Town boat colors. I want to change the color but hope to use one from 1951.
 
There's a color chart \, possibly from the 1920s, here: http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/old-town-color-chart-circa-1920.7345/
Another color chart is here: http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/request-for-two-serial-numbers.2478/#post-11471

But generally, the specific shades of colors isn't really known... your monitor's color calibration, and the inks in your printer, may ad some variation to the equation. Best advice is that it's your canoe... paint it whatever color you like!
 
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