We just purchased an Old Town Canoe - I think a Carleton - from the 1970s and would love to know more about it. It's had a few owners, so the last person couldn't tell us.
Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 188704 is a 16 foot long fiberglass Carleton model with no keel that weighed 77 pounds. It was built between February and March, 1972. The original exterior gelcoat color was blue. It shipped on March 13th, 1972 to Flemington, New Jersey. The back side of this record shows that there was a poor layup on the sides and bottom with an indentation on the bottom. 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/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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/pricing-plans/join to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer this description doesn't match the canoe. Feel free to reply if you have any other questions.