Old Town 68305 17

[RichMcG]

Are there any build sheets for an Old Town with the number 68305 17. My first wood canoe and trying to find info.

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 68305 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Otca model with Western red cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, twenty inch mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, half ribs, and a keel. It was built between December, 1921 and January, 1922. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on February 3rd, 1922 to Chicago, Illinois. The back side of the record indicates that it may have moved to Frankfurt, Kentucky by June, 1975 when there was a previous request for a copy of this information. Scans showing both sides of this build record can be found below.

These scans 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/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or 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

 

[RichMcG]

Wow! That was very fast and very helpful…thank you so much for the info. I’ll need to look into making a donation to keep info like this available. Thank you again.

 

[RichMcG]

Benson Gray, I’ve got one more it’s an Old Town 17’ H.W. With a SN 46140. Do you have a build sheet for this one by chance?

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 46140 is an 18 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. It was built between October, 1916 and April, 1918. The original exterior paint color was Yale blue with a two inch wide orange stripe and turned down ends that was spaced one and a half inches from the gunwales. This may have looked similar to the one at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design27.gif with different colors. It shipped on May 4th, 1918 to Brockton, Massachusetts.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Please attach some pictures if the original design is still showing. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[RichMcG]

These are what I’ve got, as I’ve yet to pick it up

 

[Fitz]

Be sure and post some more photos of your canoes. Decks, thwarts, sheer line etc. all good photos help. The seat frame shown in your photo does not look like an Old Town frame. They could have been replaced or you may have a different builder altogether.

 

[RichMcG]

Here’s the deck plate

 

[Dave Osborn]

Deck looks like Old Town. When did Old Town quit making closed gunwale canoes? Are closed gunwales normally noted on the build record?

 

[Benson Gray]

When did Old Town quit making closed gunwale canoes? Are closed gunwales normally noted on the build record?

The 1929 Old Town catalog was the last one where closed gunwales were listed. The build records for canoes with closed gunwales simply had the wood listed like this one does. Open gunwales had "open" included on that line as shown at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/43683/ for example. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question,

Benson