I am currently restoring an Old Town dinghy. It is 7' LOA and built in the wood and canvas method like the canoes. The serial no. is (spacing intentional) : 4 4884 7 - 6. If anyone knows if there are plans for this boat, especially with some of the construction details, I would be grateful. Also, can the origin date of the boat or any other details be gleaned from the serial no.? Thank you.
Dinghy
- Thread starter Dmgreen
- Start date
Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town with serial number 44884 is a 17 foot long canoe from 1917 so that isn't a good match. My guess is that there is a light numeral one which is just outside the frame to the left of your picture. The build record for serial number 144884 shows a 7.5 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Dinghy model with open mahogany gunwales, a keel, outside stems, a floor rack, and roped outside gunwales. It was built between April and November, 1946. The original exterior paint color was white enamel. It shipped on January 27th, 1947 to Boston, Massachusetts. A scan of 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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/join to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match. The ten foot version of this dinghy was John Alden's design number 545 from 1932. More information about this design is available from the MIT Museum. See https://www.aldendesigns.com/99years/detail.php?ID=820&s=1 for more details. Two diagrams showing the centerboard trunk from the original Alden plans are also attached below. Page 21 of the 1947 Old Town catalog at https://woodencanoemuseum.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Old Town 1947 reduced_0.pdf has more information. Let me know if you have other questions or if there is anything else that I can do to help. Good luck with the project,
Benson
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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/join to donate or join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match. The ten foot version of this dinghy was John Alden's design number 545 from 1932. More information about this design is available from the MIT Museum. See https://www.aldendesigns.com/99years/detail.php?ID=820&s=1 for more details. Two diagrams showing the centerboard trunk from the original Alden plans are also attached below. Page 21 of the 1947 Old Town catalog at https://woodencanoemuseum.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/Old Town 1947 reduced_0.pdf has more information. Let me know if you have other questions or if there is anything else that I can do to help. Good luck with the project,
Benson
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