Scott: The build record for the Old Town canoe with serial number 123817 is for a 16 foot CS grade OTCA with spruce gunnels, birch decks, a keel and floor rack. The hull was started on 12/14/37 and shipped on 5/23/38 to H.W. Johnson in Antrim, N.H. The color was dark green. A reference is made on the order that it had a full length bang plate. In addition, this canoe apparently was returned at some point for paint blisters per a letter from S. Fisher on 7/12/??.
The build record for the Old Town canoe with serial number 140815 is an 18 foot AA grade HW with ash gunnels, decks and thwarts with a keel and sponsons. The hull was started on 9/8/44 and shipped on 1/29/45 to The Central Hardware Purchasing Dept. in Ironton, Ohio. The color was dark green.
As far as 942-16 is concerned, the number precedes the start of the OT records. As far as checking Carlton records the first record I have for Carlton starts at #2235. The two scans of the OT build records can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail image below.
These scans 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 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.html to join or 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. - Al
