Old Town 16' sailing canoe

[Bill Perron]

Hello Benson;
I am helping a friend restore (with the hopes of getting a new member for WCHA) a 16ft. Old Town sailing canoe.
the # is 5182062. Any information would be great.
See you at Paul Smith's next week ?

All the best

Bill Perron
Walpole, NH

 

[Benson Gray]

This seven digit serial number seems like you may have picked up an extra digit or two somewhere. Old Town has made a lot of canoes but I don't think that they are over five million yet. Can you confirm the actual number and attach some pictures of the digits from the inside stems at each end? I am planning to be at the Assembly next week. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Bill Perron]

YIKES! What you have is a phone number not a canoe number.
How about 148496.

Mea culpa, mea culpa
Thanks

Bill

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 148496 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, and a keel. It was built between April and June, 1947. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on June 24th, 1947 to Baltimore, Maryland. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image 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 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 join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. The sail rig was probably added after it left the factory since this is not listed in the original build record. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson