41905

[Steve Ambrose]

Please post the build sheet for this Old Town. It's an older boat (obviously) with closed gunwales. The ribs taper into the outer face of the inwale. Unlike Morris, who cut pockets, these simply taper down to nothing and the planking runs up to the top of the inwale. The thin rib tips don't offer much structure to tie the boat together and without the thwarts in place I'm sure a good twist would rip the inwale free! Is this construction original or was this canoe chopped at some point?

 

[pklonowski]

The tapered rib tips are the way they were built. My 1918 OT (SN 52727, a bit younger than yours) has this same feature.

I don't have the Build Records, but I'm sure someone will be along pretty soon...

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town with serial number 41905 is an 18 foot long, GS (Guide's Special or utility) grade, IF (Indian Fishing) or Guide's model canoe with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, maple decks, maple thwarts, and maple seats, and a keel. It was built between February and April, 1916. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on April 19th, 1916 to Southbridge, Mass. A scan of 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 as you probably know well. 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 renew your membership to 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.html to renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your boat. The thin rib tips are typical for a closed gunwale canoe from this era as Paul pointed out. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson