Need help identifying this Old Town!

[Howie]

I picked up this 17' Old Town last night. At least I assume it's an Old Town - I can't locate a serial # on the stems! I've stripped about 12" of paint off the stems and the most I see is a stamped 'L'! Am I looking the wrong place for the serial # for this model? Should I try to strip more paint off the stems? The stems look to be original to me.
It sure looks like an Old Town - maybe an Otca?. It has the diamond head seat/thwart bolts and slotted flathead screws on the outwales. The decks are 20" from tip to center and are the coaming type.

 

[Benson Gray]

You are looking in the right place but the numbers may have been sanded off. The "L" you see looks like the top of a "1" and I can almost see the outline of a "7" following it. It looks like an Otca and the presence of diamond headed bolts would date it after 1923. Good luck,

Benson

 

[Howie]

Any idea when the last Otca with the long decks + coaming was made? That'd bracket a range of years.

 

[Benson Gray]

Any idea when the last Otca with the long decks + coaming was made? That'd bracket a range of years.

The short deck version of the Otca was first shown in the 1957 catalog but was available as a custom order after that.

Benson

 

[Howie]

One more thing. I just noticed that the old seats were the machine-made pressed in cane type. When were they first offered by OT?