18FT Old Town Serial Number Info

[mgm]

Early in the summer, I bought two canoes, one for me and another to give to a friend as his 30th birthday gift. I purchased a 1956 13ft Old Town 50 Pound Model for myself, and I found for him a 17ft 1940 Old Town HW model, with half ribs. None the less, we both had them restored and now I have the bug to get another canoe. A longer one for trips when I won't be solo or could use the extra space.

Found a nice project for cheap and the gentleman is holding it and provided me the numbers.

Thanks in advance for the help, from the photos it appears to have half ribs and the numbers he gave me were as follows.

Online he had it listed as 91339, but over the phone he said 91639. So I apologize for the extra legwork in my request. Looks to be a Guide or HW model but I don't have a trained eye just yet.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town with serial number 91339 is a 9 foot long dinghy so that probably isn't correct. The one with number 91639 is an 18 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, half ribs, and a keel. It was built in July, 1926. The original exterior paint was similar to the one shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design07.gif which was known as the design number 7. It shipped on May 10th, 1926 to Cuba, New York. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image 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/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 and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Please post some pictures if the original design is still showing. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,

Benson