Old Town 168401

GeorgeB

New Member
Hi,

I have an Old Town 16' sailing canoe circa 1960 with the serial number 168401. Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks.

George Brown
 
The Old Town canoe with serial number 168401 is a 16 foot long Otca model with a keel. It was built between January and May, 1959. The original exterior paint color was similar to the image shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design04.gif which was known as design number 4. It was shipped on June 30th, 1959 to Netcong, New Jersey and returned for repairs on August 24th, 1964. It was painted white and shipped back to Lodi, New Jersey on October 24th, 1964 after these repairs were complete. This canoe came back from New York City for more repairs on September 11th, 1968 and was painted similar to the image shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design46.gif which was known as design number 46. It was returned to Secaucus, New Jersey on January 28th, 1969. A scan of this build record can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below.

These scans were 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 renew your membership 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.

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.

Benson
 

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Thank you, Benson...this is very helpful. Just out of curiosity, would it have indicated anywhere that this is a sailing canoe model?

George Brown
 
would it have indicated anywhere that this is a sailing canoe model?

The note about "replaced old rudder fitting" on October 14th, 1968 confirms it was a sailing canoe at that time. The build records from the 1950s and 1960s don't always indicate if a sailing rig was originally installed at the factory. The build record and picture attached below are from a similar canoe that had two sailing rigs installed at the factory without any notation on the build record. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson
 

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Hi Benson,

Yes, that absolutely answers my question. Thank you, again, for your efforts.

George Brown
 
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