98148 is a 16 foot Baby Buzz, so I'm thinking that number isn't right. It may help best if you take a digital picture of the serial number and post it, along with some pictures of the canoe... unless the following seems like it might be what you have:
Old Town 93148 is a 17 foot CS (common sense or middle) grade Charles River model canoe with open spruce gunwales, red Western cedar planking, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seat frames and a keel. Originally it was painted gray and shipped to Rumney, NH, on July 12, 1927. The reverse of the card shows an inquiry on 8/18/76 from Chelmsford, MA. Copies of these scans are attached below-- click to get a larger image.
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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.
Is there a second number-- indicating the length of the canoe-- after the serial number? The above canoe would be 93148 17. I'm concerned that this may not be the correct record because you said your canoe is 17'6"... Old Town didn't build a canoe that size, so if yours is an Old Town it may be an 18 footer. Measuring goes from the very farthest point on the bow to the farthest on the stern, without adding in the curves on the side: imagine a plumb-line touching the farthest points and measuring between. Many people measure a canoe by running a tape from the tip of one deck to the tip of the other, and you end up missing some extra inches. So, you may have an 18' canoe.
However, if you live near Chelmsford, MA, and the other details match, this may be your baby!
Kathy