Grandfathers Canoe
- Thread starter Jfstites
- Start date
Jack,
It certainly appears to be an Old town. I can't read the serial number in the photo, but the decks look like OT and it seems to have diamond-head bolts. Old Town serial numbers started in the early 1900s with numbers above 1000. I looked up number 160688 just in case, but that was a 16-foot lapstrake model built for an outboard, which doesn't seem to be your boat.
I'd recommend looking more closely at the serial number. A couple digits may be hiding from you. Cleaning off the stem a bit might help and looking with a sideways light. The serial number would appear on both the front and back inside stem. Generally there's the number, then a space, and another number indicating the length of the canoe. The length number appears toward the end of the stem, and after the serial number. Since your canoe has open gunwales, it was probably built no earlier than the 1920s, and it looks younger than that. It's a handsome boat that appears to be in excellent condition.
Others with more knowledge may have more to contribute about the age and identity of this canoe. A lot of people are heading for Paul Smiths and the Assembly right now, so it may take a while...
Norm
It certainly appears to be an Old town. I can't read the serial number in the photo, but the decks look like OT and it seems to have diamond-head bolts. Old Town serial numbers started in the early 1900s with numbers above 1000. I looked up number 160688 just in case, but that was a 16-foot lapstrake model built for an outboard, which doesn't seem to be your boat.
I'd recommend looking more closely at the serial number. A couple digits may be hiding from you. Cleaning off the stem a bit might help and looking with a sideways light. The serial number would appear on both the front and back inside stem. Generally there's the number, then a space, and another number indicating the length of the canoe. The length number appears toward the end of the stem, and after the serial number. Since your canoe has open gunwales, it was probably built no earlier than the 1920s, and it looks younger than that. It's a handsome boat that appears to be in excellent condition.
Others with more knowledge may have more to contribute about the age and identity of this canoe. A lot of people are heading for Paul Smiths and the Assembly right now, so it may take a while...
Norm
Kathryn Klos
squirrel whisperer
It's great that you have a family canoe to restore and paddle, and this may be the correct record. Old Town 120683 is a 16 foot CS (common sense or middle) grade Yankee model canoe that was completed February-June 1937 with open spruce gunwales, oak decks, thwarts and seat frames, a keel and an original color that was brilliant green. It was shipped to Camp Sacajawea in Newport, NH, on July 13, 1937.The scan of your build record 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 anyone reading this will join or renew 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 renew.
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
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 anyone reading this will join or renew 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 renew.
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
