17' Old Town Canoe #19426

[L Alan Johnston]

I stumbled across this canoe for sale on the side of the road in northern Michigan last week. I bought it and would like to know about it's heritage. Can you provide construction details?

Thanks,

Al

 

[L Alan Johnston]

Pictures

Thought i would add a couple pictures.

 

[MGC]

Hi Alan,

Most folks that can provide the build sheet and date your canoe are at "the Assembly" this week, not piloting a desk around in an office as I am.

I cannot give you the detail you need. Someone will be along shortly to give you that.

Meanwhile, my SWAG for your boat is 1912ish......

It's really a nice canoe...very nice find in great condition for a hundred + year old boat.

 

[chris pearson]

Indeed, very early Old Town, you found a winner!!!!!!!

 

[L Alan Johnston]

Yes, I am excited to have it. I built a wood strip canoe a couple years ago, and I am looking forward to doing the restoration on this one.

I couldn't believe that the boat had been on the side of a busy road for six weeks with a "For Sale" sign on it. He was asking $650 but I talked him down to $500.

 

[smallboatshop]

Hello Al,

Your canoe is a 17 foot, AA Grade (top grade), Charles River Model with Western Cedar planking, spruce gunwales, Mahogany decks, thwarts and seats. It was equipped with a keel and painted green (maybe light green). Additionally, it came with 2 Mahogany seat backs, two maple paddles and the name Idlehour on the right bow and left stern. It was built in 1911 - 1912 and sold to a fellow at Psi Upsilon House in Ann Arbor.

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 will join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA andhttp://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to join.

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. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.


Dan
smallboat shop
Denmark, Maine
www.smallbooat-shop.com

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

Nice canoe, Al. Looks like it's in great shape for its age - many newer ones are in much worse condition. If you look through past posts, you'll see that some serial numbers are hard to decipher. But Dan is spot on with yours. It's easy to tell that this is about 1912 even without the build record (no mystery) - it is closed gunwale, has the very early Old Town deck cutout shape, and the serial number is clear and can be dated using the chart found here:

http://wcha.org/legacypages/ot_records/serial-n.jpg

Scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click "Legacy Pages" where you'll find lots of cool stuff. Nice canoe!

H.

 

[Gil Cramer]

This is probably the canoe that President Eisenhower paddled when he visited @ UofM.