New (to me) Old Town

[Howie]

Just picked up this freebie! Serial # 125853-16. Can you provide me with the build info please?

The husband passed away some time ago. His wife says he restored canoes as a hobby - showed me a photo album of many restored canoes. Sounds like me - wish I could have met him! She believes it was obtained from a Boy Scout camp at some point.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 125853 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. It also may have had sponsons but the stamp isn't clear. It was built between November, 1938 and March, 1939. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on March 30th, 1939 to Binghamton, New York. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached 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/ot_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-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to 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. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Howie]

Thank you Sir Benson.