Help identify

[EdE]

Just picked up a wood canvas canoe and started to research it. Found the serial number on the stem: 16461 16.
Any help identifying it would be appreciated.

 

[Todd F]

Good catch.

 

[Benson Gray]

I'm not sure what you have. The deck shape isn't very distinctive. The Kennebec record for serial number 16461 shows a 17 foot long canoe from 1922, the Old Town one shows an 18 foot long canoe from 1911, and the Carleton one shows a 16 foot long canoe with open gunwales and a floor rack that was converted to an Old Town which before being shipped to Pennsylvania in 1922. None of these are a good match for the canoe in your pictures. Not many builders issued serial numbers in this range so it is hard to say who might have made it. Please reply here if you ever figure it out.

Benson

 

[EdE]

I think this canoe has had work done in the past. The decks look homemade with rough edges etc. so they may not be original. The canoe is 16’ long and 33” at the beam.

 

[EdE]

Also the closed gunwale may have been added. It looks homemade to me and not centered.

 

[EdE]

It also has the floor rack fasteners in a few places. The man I bought it from said it came from Kane Pennsylvania. Could you provide the record for the 1922 Carleton? I bet that’s it!

 

[Benson Gray]

The Carleton canoe with serial number 16461 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Carleton model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, a keel, and a floor rack. It was built between November, 1921 and May, 1922. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was converted to an Old Town and shipped on June 7th, 1922 to Graterford, Pennsylvania. 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 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 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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/pricing-plans/join to donate or renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer this description doesn't match the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[EdE]

Thanks !