11' Old Town

[michaeljmccarthy]

My father recently gave me his 11' Old Town canoe. He has had the canoe since 1974, but bought on the side of road in downeast Maine. It would be great to know more about it. Tried to locate the serial number and I found #457 11. I know the 11 means length. Can you help me match this number to determine if I have read it correctly?

Thank you.

Michael McCarthy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hi Michael,

Old Town canoes usually have 5 or 6 digits, followed by the serial number. If the canoe is an Old Town, you may find more numbers by cleaning the stems... sometimes paint stripper has to be used. The serial number appears on both stems, so check both and compare. Posting pictures of the canoe here will help too... it may have been built by a different builder.

If it's an Old Town, at that size it would be the 50 pound model-- if it's an older canoe. More modern versions of the 50 pounder are called trapper, lightweight or featherweight.

Kathy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

I ran 45711 and 11457 and both are 18 foot canoes. I'll poke around the serial numbers, but partial numbers can be hard to match with the right canoe. Here again, a picture would help because it could narrow down for certain if we are looking for an Old Town record and the canoe's era should be evident. A more recent canoe could have a serial number of 1XX457, narrowing down the possible combinations... but even getting one more digit helps a lot.

 

[michaeljmccarthy]

11' Old Town Canoe

Kathryn,

Thanks for prompting me to look harder. Took paint remover and found 174457 11.

That should be more in line with what I suspected the age of the canoe to be. Certainly not beginning of the 1900s.

Michael McCarthy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Got It!

Hi Michael,

This should be it! Old Town 174457 is an 11 foot 50 pound model with a keel that was completed January- August of 1965. It has narrow 2 3/4" planking and was originally painted red. It was shipped to Salisbury, MA, on September 23, 1965. 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 you and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in 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

 

[michaeljmccarthy]

11' OT Canoe

Kathy,

Thank you very much. Could you try one more # for me? 74457. I am more sure of these numbers that I am of the first "1".

I know it was in downeast Maine when my father bought it used.

Michael McCarthy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hi Michael,

74457 doesn't match-- it's a 16 foot AA (top) grade square stern model canoe shipped May 28, 1923 to Elkhart, Indiana.

Generally, canoes don't seem to travel far from their original shipping-place, but they certainly can stray... we have one that went from Maine to Alaska and then to South Dakota, and it's now in Michigan.

Does the year 1965 seem right to you? I figured the record fit because there appear to be fewer 11 footers than there are canoes 16 feet and more.

Kathy

 

[michaeljmccarthy]

11' ot

Kathy,

I think we have it. I called my mother to check a couple of things. She said the canoe was red and that it had a keel. I don't remember the details of when my father bought it, because I had moved out of ME by then.

So, we have a match. Thank you.

Now on to refurbishing the canoe. Unfortunately, my father had it fiberglassed. I talked with Wayne Mowery here in Davidson, NC about getting it refurbished. He has done about 40 OT canoes.

Wish me luck....

Michael McCarthy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

If you'd like to do some of the work yourself, there's a lot of experience in the group here... and I know of a dandy YouTube video showing someone (familiar to me) removing fiberglass with a heat gun...

We love pictures, especially before and after, with some in-between!

Kathy

 

[michaeljmccarthy]

11' ot

Kathy,

Yes, I would enjoy being able to view the YouTube video. Please send me the URL. I will also send some pictures.

Michael McCarthy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Fiberglass comes off with varying degrees of difficulty... this was not as tough as a certain 16' Rainbow we know about, but harder than some... the general rule is the better the 'glassing-job, the harder it will be to remove.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXILZU6Jm-s