Build records please

[woodcanoenut]

Can we please have the build records for the following two canoes: 137254 16' sponsons;
107612 18' sponsons, sailing; when did Old Town start numbering. The owner of these three canoes
said the oldest canoe 1900-1904 was bought by his Grandfather. We could not locate numbers on this canoe.
Of course it had many coats of paint on the floor. These canoes are at a local Marina. The owner has
two wooden boats with built in electric motors--very old. He also has a huge wooden Dart passenger
boat that is for sale on their web site. Patona Bay Marina.. Thanks for the info on the canoes. We are trying to help document these canoes for him.

 

[woodcanoenut]

One of the canoes was set up for the motor to be used inside the canoe. "Hence the advertising by
Evinrude.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

hello--

Old Town 137254 is a 16 foot CS (common sense or middle) grade HW (heavy water) model canoe that was completed March to October 1943, with open spruce gunwales, ash decks/thwarts/seat frames, a keel, outside stems and sponsons. Originally it was dark green. it was sent to Cleveland, Ohio, on November 3, 1943.

Old Town 107612 is an 18 foot AA (top) grade HW (heavy water) canoe, completed October 1930 to June 1931, with red Western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks/thwarts/seat frames, a keel, a floor rack, and sponsons. It was originally dark green too. This canoe was shipped to The Emporium in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on July 9, 1931 (my mother's tenth birthday-- hello, Mama). No mention of sail rigging but the dealerships commonly added these prior to sale, or it could have been added at any time.

Old Town put serial numbers on their canoes from the beginning, as far as I know. You may have to use some paint stripper on the stems. Wet it down and take some digital pictures-- something may show up. Try both stems.

Image of the scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image.

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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php 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.

Kathy

 

[woodcanoenut]

Thank you!

thanks for the info Kathryn! The owner will be very happy!