Old Town Build Sheet

fred capenos

Canoe Pilot
I would like to have any available information for an Old Town 17' canoe with 3 thwarts and 20" long decks with coming. The serial number is 136073 or 136078. Thanks for your help.
 
Hello Fred,

136078 is on a 16' Yankee. I think we have a match with 136073 - it is on a 17' Otca in AA grade with mahogany rails, seats, decks & thwarts. Though not noted specifically, it was common for the Otcas to have the long decks. It also came with a floor rack, keel and #10 canvas (interesting - there were 5 boats in consecutive numbers all build with #10 - shipped to completely different areas - must have run out!) It was painted Fire Red and shipped to Dayton, OH in April of 1943. Build Record attached.

Scans of approximately 210,000 records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about the project to preserve these records is available at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. Please join WCHA or make a tax deductable contribution 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. A 10 minute video on WCHA is viewable at http://www.wcha.org/wcha_video.php. If you are already a WCHA member, THANK YOU!

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.
 

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Thanks for the quick reply Mike, it sounds like our canoe. We picked this canoe up today in two pieces...it was cut in half for book cases. I have a new project ahead of me. Fred
 
Kathryn,
I'm not sure you would want to wait that long for an article. I didn't mention that our new canoe has nine missing and eight badly broken ribs. There are three large sections of planking missing (holes). Also, not only are the inwales cut, thay are broken. On the plus side, the cut is eighteen inches forward of center, the stems only need four or five inches spliced onto them, all three thwarts are perfect, the seat frames are good, the long decks need minimal work and all the bolts are good. It was found in a farmers field and destined for bookshelves till our chapter head learned about it and stopped the operation in its tracks. I'll post a picture soon. Fred
 
Dave, Talk about inspiration----- I've just gotta know how it turned out. I need to finish a HW with sponsons before I get started on this one.
Heres a few pics of our OTCA.
 
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Hi Fred

Well, it hasn't turned out yet. The owner was interested in having a usable canoe to leave to his children. What I suggested and he agreed to do was to simply dissassemble the canoe and using the good pieces re-assemble it over my 16' form. I tried to straighten and rebend the stems but they were not cooperating. They are soft spongy besides. So I called Old Town and explained what I was doing and they are sending me one deck and two stems along with some other stuff. This canoe will not be an exact restoration, but it will be a canoe again. AT this point the inwhales and about thirty ribs are installed. I am waiting for the stems to bend the ribs over the ends. Original parts will be: about 12 ribs, one deck, both seats, and the thwarts. The stems will be stamped by Old Town. I'll write a greeting under the canvas explaining why it looks more like an HW than a Guide. A couple sections have been made into wanigans because every rib was busted. I had to boil and bend the sides in as they stretched nearly flat. A wanigan with busted ribs is still a wangian, right? I started salvaging the short pieces of planking but it just isn't worth it for what I get, so this canoe will get all new red cedar planking.

Your canoe looks like it's easy to store nested. :)

Looks worth saving.
 
You know, its not too often that one can take two perfectly good bookcases, put them together, and end up with a halfway decent boat...
 
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