old town 18 ft sponson serial # search please

[jrietberg]

Hello, My name is John and I just purchased my first canoe from a gentlemen yesterday.I am really excited to learn its history if someone would be willing to help me out with this.I have spent hours on the web in the hopes to learn more about what it is that I have here.I have narrowed it down to an 18 ft Old Town "sponson" model I think. I came across this site this am. and learned where to look for the serial # and after scraping away what appears to be several coats of old finish I found this--73854-18

I sure would appreciate it if someone could search the build records and find some history for me . Thank you very much and have a great day!

John

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 73854 is an 18 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Otca model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, 20 inch mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, outside stems, a floor rack, sponsons, a brass bang plate along the full length of the keel, and one brass painter ring. It was built between October, 1922 and April, 1924. The original exterior paint color was blue with a half inch gold stripe and turned down ends edged in red. This may have looked similar to the one shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design27.gif (with blue in place of the white) which was known as the design number 27. It shipped on May 22nd, 1924 to Spring Lake, Michigan. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached below.

This scan and several hundred thousand more 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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php 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

 

[Greg Nolan]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 73854 is an 18 foot long, AA (top or premium) grade Otca model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, 20" mahogany decks, mahogany seats and thwarts, and equipped with outside stems, sponsons, a keel, full-length bang plates the length of the keel, and a painter ring. It was built between October 1922 and April 1924. The original exterior paint color was blue, with a ½" gold strip, T.D. ends edged in red. It was shipped to Spring Lake, Michigan on May 22, 1924. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below; the scan of OT paint design No. 41 will give you some idea of the original paint job, though with different colors.



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 Nolan