Just picked up an Old Town Molitor and Yankee

[Howie]

I got a call from WCHA member Dan yesterday wondering if I'd be interested in his 1941 16' Yankee #131955, and his 1921 18' Molitor #66010. 24 hours later & they are mine (thanks again Dan!). He had copies of the OT build sheet for both canoes from the lady he got them from, so we're sure of the date & model.

The Molitor is especially nice with mahogany decks, seats, thwarts, as well as outer rails - maybe inner rails too. Interestingly the outer rails seem to have been held in place with nails pounded from the inside - never seen that before. Although... the outer rails are in such nice shape that perhaps they were from a later restoration. Then again the whole canoe is in quite nice condition, so maybe it's all original. Also, the decks look very Penn Yan-ish, or Morris-ish.

I braved 86 miles of NY snow, rain & wind to get them! They've got a tasty layer of road salt on then now. O well - can't be helped.

 

[Dan Miller]

That one canoe looks like it has untapered inwales- suggests it is maybe not what you think it is. Better photos?

 

[Howie]

Dan: So nice to have someone else geek out on this stuff! Here's more pics:

Profile does look like a Molitor, right? Sharp bend & long straight section toward the deck.
Deck looks like a Penn Yan to me. And the inner rails are tapered.
#66010
See the nails for the outer rails?
The outer were also secured with 9 screws from the inside: 2 alongside each thwart, 2 by the front seat bolts, and 1 by the leading bolt on the rear seat.
Forgot to mention the mahogany outer stems!

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town build record for serial number 66010 seems to match. See https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/12325/ for a similar Molitor that came off the form less than a month earlier and the one at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/4175/ from 1922. Both of these have the same stem shape and nails holding on the outer rails. The unusual 16 inch decks on yours were specified in the build record shown below. Nice find,

Benson

 

[Howie]

Thanks Benson.