Old Town? 11159 17

[peter]

I am fairly new to thewooden canoe world.
I recently perchased a boat and want to find out more about it. it is in need of a restoration but I would like to know its history before making the decisions about what to do with it.
The ribs and planks apear to be in good shape, but it has fiberglass over the wood. i want to know its origin before deciding weather to attempt to take off the fiberglass (if that is even posible) and fully restore it. Or just sand, patch, and paint the fiberglass.
if anyone has any info on this please let me know.
the serial # i found on the stem is:
11159 17
i think it may be an old town because the serial# has the five digits followed by its leingth
thanks

 

[Benson Gray]

Actually, many different boat and canoe builders used that serial number format. However, you may have an Old Town since the Carleton with that number was 16 feet long and the Kennebec was 18 feet long. The Old Town canoe with serial number 11159 is a 17 foot long, CS grade, Charles River model with red Western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, spruce decks, spruce trim, spruce outside finish rails, and a keel. It was built in May, 1909. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on June 4th, 1909 to Williamsport, Pa. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan was created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will join or contribute to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.html to join.

Fiberglass can usually be removed in most cases and there are many message threads here that can help you through the process.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe or boat. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[peter]

Charle River?

Wow that is very exciting! If my canoe is from 1909 I will certainly take the time to get the fiberglass off and be sure to do the best i can in the restoration process.

thank you so much for your time and effort. i truly appreciate your help. can i pick your brain alittle

The boat is defiantly 17 feet long, I’m not yet sure if everything else matches up. How else can I be sure?
The decks are heart shaped, according to what I have found online that is not a typical characteristic of Old town. There is a part of a decal left on one of the decks, it does not look like the old town logo and there isn’t much left of it. Could it be a sticker from a boat shop that might have done some repairs? This boat was obviously altered, at least once, probably a few times. Maybe that’s the reason for these discrepincies

The boat is fairly narrow with a round bottom. I looked at cross sections of the Charles River on this web site. My boat appears to be slightly more round bottomed although the tumblehelm matches up well.
There was a serial # on both the bow and stern stems. I’m not sure if that has any significance.

 

[Benson Gray]

It is clearly not an Old Town with that decal and the heart shaped decks so it probably isn't from 1909. You should spend some time in the Wood Canoe Identification Guide at http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/ to see if you can identify it based on any other characteristics. There aren't many manufacturers or models that end in "AN" but someone else may recognize the decal.

Benson

 

[Fitz]

I think I see the remains of a "K" too...

I'm guessing "Skowhegan".

Maybe post a few more photos of the canoe to assist the experts.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

and

Is that a rose, with a person standing behind it? i look at clouds and ----
I see things.
I kinda think i see the "S".
maybe Dan M has a skohegan deck with decal?

 

[Andre Cloutier]

seeing things

Dave, you have a point - best make sure its not religious...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4019295.stm
sorry, couldnt resist....

 

[Benson Gray]

My guess is that it is an indian paddling a canoe in front of a red sunset similar to the one shown on the cover of the 1933 Skowhegan catalog attached below. The one from Dan Eaton at http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/images/skow_deck.jpg on Dan Miller's web site is a bit too small to read but one of them may be able to offer a larger resolution example.

More information like this can be found in the Skowhegan catalogs contained on the Historic Wood Canoe and Boat Company Catalog Collection CD available from http://merchandise.wcha.org/ and http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm on the web.


Benson

 

[peter]

skowhegan

bummer i realy liked the idea of having a canoe that is almost a hundred years old, and having a documented peace of Maine history. but thanks so much for your time
the heart shape deck certainly look like the skowhegan style, so i still have a peace of maine history. the immage on the dragonfly web site does not have a decal like mine but im sure they used different ones at different times.
i realy wish i could know even the aproximate age of this canoe. someone suggested i include some photos. I will but im not sure what parts of the boat to photograph.
thanks again for your time
Pete