Odd Penn Yan Rainbow - no half-ribs

[Howie]

I'm currently working on a 17' Rainbow with serial # RCS263. All the Rainbows I've worked on before had half-ribs. This one doesn't - the ribs are about 2 3/8 wide at the center tapering to 1 to 1/4 at the rails. Plus while it had external stems when I got it I could find no canvas under them, so I'm wondering if they were covered with canvass originally. I can't be sure of this however since the canoe had been extensively fiberglassed so the stems may well have been tampered with. It also has spruce rails with mahogany seats, decks, & thwarts, which I guess isn't unusual.

Anybody seen a Rainbow like this before? Any guess on its age? A 3-digit number indicates sometime before the mid-40s?

 

[Gil Cramer]

According to the catalogs, the rainbow did not have half ribs until 1948. Before that, floor racks were included some years on some models. I see no indication that the OS stems were ever canvassed. Interestingly, the 1933 spruce trimmed rainbow had basswood ribs.

 

[Howie]

Hey - Thank you! I wonder if they went to the 5-digit serial # system (with the 1st 2 digits being the year) in 1948 as well...

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Many years ago I was told by a PY rep that they did that in the 2ed half of a decade, he didn't say (or I don't remember if he said) when they started doing that.

Dan

 

[Gil Cramer]

I have seen the first 2 digits indicating the year from 46- 56. I have also seen PY 's with no serial numbers. In the mid fifties, supposedly, they were building 50 boats a day, so anything might have been possible.