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Old Town 154178 is a 16 foot CS (common sense, or middle) grade HW model canoe. The lines of the HW can appear similar to the Otca, with graceful ends, but the Otca of the era of this canoe would have 20 inch decks and coaming... the HW has the traditional short deck. The HW is designed for lake and larger river paddling or sailing. This canoe has red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, a keel, and was originally painted with dark green enamel. Wood species of decks/thwarts/seat frames isn't specified but the CS grade is hardwood other than mahogany.
The canoe hull was finished in May and June of 1950 and the canoe was shipped to Waterville, Maine, on 20 June 1950.
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 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 don't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Kathy
