17 ft. OTC find

[Rich]

Recently acquired a wonderful old canoe in great condition. It is a 17 Ft. OTC that has been stored many years. The serial # is 92683 17. Since i'm new to this forum I would appreciate any build and sell info you may have. I'm recently retired and looking forward to restoring this beauty correctly.

Thanks a bunch....Rich

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Sailing Canoe

Welcome to the passion for old canoes, Rich!

Old Town 9268317 is a 17 foot AA grade (mahogany trimmed) Otca model, built between November 1926 and June 1929. It has red Western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales and mahogany decks/thwarts/seat frames. It was fitted with a keel and floor rack and gear for sailing-- a mast seat and step and rudder assembly. It was painted design number 4... I'll attach a picture of that in a separate reply-- the canoe has had some changes in the last 80 years! It was shipped to Joseph C. Roush (I think) of Crawford County, Pennsylvania on June 29, 1929.

If these specifics don't match your canoe, we can try again. The scan of the build record is attached below. If you'd like a larger size, email me at kathrynklos@gmail.com. Scans of approximately 210,000 records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details.

Please join WCHA or make a tax deductible contribution so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA, http://www.wcha.org/wcha_video.php to watch a 10 minute video about WCHA and our programs and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join. If you are already a WCHA member, THANK YOU... and again, WELCOME!

We like pictures...

Kathy

 

[Kathryn Klos]

More...

From the 1929 OT catalog, you can find design number 4 in the upper left corner... if you want to re-create this design on your canoe, Benson's the one to talk to!

Also, here's the sailing equipment from the 1929 catalog, so you can determine if any of this is present on your canoe. The mast seat isn't pictured here, but would be obvious to you: the seat has a hole in it for the mast.

These images are courtesy of The Historic Wood Canoe and Boat Catalog Collection, version 2, edited by Dan Miller and Benson Gray, published by Dragonfly Canoe Works and available at www.dragonflycanoe.com.

Kathy

 

[Rich]

Thanks Kathryn for all the great info. Your description matches my canoe very close.
It still has the sailing seat but all other hdwe pertaining to sailing is missing. It has all the brass hdwe except stem bands have been replaced with aluminum...yuk !! It appears to have the original finish (alligatored) on the decks, gunwales, seats & thwarts.The original OTC sticker on the forward deck is in very good condition. The canvas has been replaced but the original #4 color design was not reproduced.

We have already started our research on the old craft. My wife starts in 1929 Pennsylvania and I start in 2008 with the person I bought it from. Hopefully we'll meet in the middle and have documented its 79 years of life.

Unfortunatly, at this time I cannot post pictures. My computer is a windows 98 with dial-up and no digital camera. I know, I know i'm gonna get there but it's just gonna take a little time.

Thanks again and i'll go chat around the forum.

Rich

 

[Kathryn Klos]

A Good Book

Hi Rich,

While you and your wife are researching your canoe's history, you may find the book Old Town, Our First Hundred Years by Sue Audette a very interesting read. Includes some general canoe history, and may make you even more appreciative of your old Old Town!

Regarding dial-up-- until only a few weeks ago, when my modem was fried by lightning that came through the phone line, I had dial-up and found I was able to do most things with few frustrations... even uploaded some things to YouTube (three minutes of video took six hours). I learned to resize things to post and to download larger files directly from my webmail... little tricks picked up over time. You've probably noticed similar things.

I'd probably still be with earthlink highspeed dial-up, had I not neglected to unplug when we left for the WCHA Assembly. Canoes may lead you in a whole new direction...

Kathy