Serial No. 24009 search

Tim Belcher

Apprentice
I picked up a 16 foot wood and fiberglass canoe with serial no 24009 in New Hampshire, with the gunnels and decks too rotted off to tell the make. The wood on the inside looks pretty good for the most part. The fiberglass is awful, but generally intact and still adhering pretty well. I'm wondering whether it was originally wood and canvas. Someone did some repairs to it, including replacing the seats. One feature I'd never seen before is that it has metal (brass?) seats in the bottom for screws that attach the keel, as though the manufacturer expected it to be replaced periodically. I've never refurbished a canoe, and haven't decided whether to restore it to canvas, if that is what it in fact had originally. Any help with the serial number or other suggestions would be welcome.
 
Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 24009 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Charles River model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, spruce outside finish rails, a keel, and two number two spruce paddles (one five feet three inches and one five foot six inches). It was built between November, 1912 and April, 1913. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on April 16th, 1913 to Marion, Massachusetts. A scan of this build record can be found below.

This scan and several hundred thousand more 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/catalogs/old-town/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 http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description don't match your canoe. It was originally covered in canvas and I would encourage you to restore it with that. The cup washers on the keel screws are probably original. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson



24009.jpg
 
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