Well, we may have to do a bit more research. 98965 shows up on a 17' HW Model in AA (fancy) grade with mahogany gunwales, seats, decks and thwarts. It had half ribs sponsons and a keel. It was painted Dark Green and shipped with a floor rack to Alexia IL in June of 1929. A copy of the build record is attached.
While long decks were most common on Otcas, they do occasionally show up as special orders on other models, though the build records will usually note the 20" decks as an option.
So, a couple of possibilities to consider.
1 - The serial number you posted is not correct. They are sometimes hard to read on an older boat. Check both stems and consider other possible numbers.
Make sure the boat you have matches the description in the record. The floor rack and keel may have disappeared over the years, but the screw holes down the center of the ribs would still show. Same thing with the Sponsons -people sometimes removed them, but a row of screw holes in the ribs about 4" down from the inwale will give it away. The half ribs are usually left in place (in fact - pretty hard to remove!)
2 - The long deck was added later, perhaps in a earlier restoration. Does it have a combing?
3 - Not an Old Town? Though the number sequence looks right, it could be a boat from another builder.
Scans of approximately 210,000 records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. Please join WCHA or make a tax deductable contribution so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and
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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.
