Old Town 17 ft rebuilding

[EarleVermonter]

I have recently acquired an Old Town wood and canvas canoe. Canvas is peeling and outer gunnels need replacing but otherwise boat is sound. Looking for any info I can get on original build records and model. Boat is 17 feet long, 35.5 inches wide, 12 inches deep. Much of the wood trim appears to be mahogany, but not sure if this was original or part of a previous rebuild. The yoke seems to be oak or ash and does not match the other thwarts which are dark and shaped.
Serial #17 77613 This appears to be the same on boat ends with a large gap between the first and second 7.

Earle Elliott
1210 Greenbanks Hollow Road
Danville, VT

ASM Troop 888

 

[Greg Nolan]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 77613 is shown as a 17 foot long, AA (top or premium) grade Ideal model with western red cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, thwarts, and seats. The construction dates are unclear, but it appears that the canoe was built the first half or 1923. The original exterior paint was dark blue, with an orange border stripe and a ½” stripe with turned down ends and scroll filling. It was shipped with one double-wide mahogany back rest to Barre, Vermont on June 3, probably 1923. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.



This scan and several hundred thousand others 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/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.

Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Greg

 

[EarleVermonter]

Carrying Yoke

I see nothing on the build sheet about a yoke. Do you know if this boat would likely have had a carrying yoke? The one on it did not match the others and I wonder if it was added where there was none? I've looked at a few pics of older boats and yokes seem less common.

 

[Dave Osborn]

Often yokes were bought and added separately.

 

[Greg Nolan]

If it's not shown on the build sheet, it was not part of the original factory build. If a yoke had been provided as a special custom order, a handwritten entry would have been made at the bottom of the build record.

As Dave notes, yokes are often added afterwards by the owner. I have made two yokes and replaced the original center thwart with my own yoke in two of my canoes, and aftermarket yokes are available from a number of sources.