Age in history of my old town canoe.

[Waldo]

Hello, is wondering if I could get help to determine the age, and history, of this canoe that has come into my possession from Michigan. It’s older canvas/wooden OldTown canoe. The serial number is 134957 15 Thank you.

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 134957 is a 15 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, fifty pound model with open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between March and July, 1942. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on July 30th, 1942 to Detroit, Michigan. A scan showing this build record can be found 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/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 http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. The 1942 catalog at https://www.woodencanoe.org/_files/ugd/537308_8101f094d8c44a57aed153063a77357a.pdf has more details on page 10. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Waldo]

Wow, Thank you..that’s awesome really appreciate it. I need to do some work on the bottom canvas is cracked from age in a few spots but I’m looking forward to fly fish from this canoe by summer. Thanks again.