Old Town canoe serial# 165075 20

[cjridgeback]

I was wondering if any information was available for this canoe. My father picked it up a few years back and we believe we know some of the history behind it. It has the sponsons and a sail rig, we have the sail and rudder for it. We believe it may have been custom made for an individual who had a machine shop in Old Town and did the sharping of Old Town Canoes saw blades at that time. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 165075 is a 20 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Guide's model with twenty inch decks, half ribs, a keel, outside stems, sponsons, and rub rails. It was built between March and May, 1956. The original exterior paint colors were similar to the ones shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design45.gif which was known as the design number 45. It shipped on May 22nd, 1956 to John Moore in Old Town, Maine. John ran a machine shop next to his house on Stillwater Avenue for many years. The canoe was returned for repairs on February 8th, 1960 when the sailing rig was added as shown on the back side of the card. Scans showing both sides of this build record can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below.

These scans 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.

Benson