Old Town Canoe Serial Number 1778232 (Flattened by Hurricane sandy)

[xcugat]

Old Town Canoe Serial Number 17 --- 78232 (Flattened by Hurricane sandy)

Hello,

I would like the build reciept for my old town canoe serial number 17 78232 (I assume 17 is the length?) I originally requested it in 2003 but the servers crashed in 2004 and the old messages are not archived. My canoe was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy--a huge black cherry tree uprooted and fell right on it splitting it in two. I need this information to provide to my insurance agent. Thank you so much for your help, and please let me know if you need anything else

 

[pklonowski]

Might want to check the serial number... I don't know if Old Towns run up into the millions just yet!

 

[xcugat]

Thanks, I edited my original post That is the number-- but the first two had a space after them like this 17 78232 I assume the 17 is in reference to the canoe length?

 

[Greg Nolan]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 78232 is 17 feet long, CS (common sense or standard) grade, HW (heavy water) model with western red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch seats, decks and thwarts, was equipped with a mast seat and step instead of a standard bow seat, and was shipped with a 55 square foot lateen sail complete (I presume “complete’ means with spars and mast), and a set of leeboards. It was built in 1923, being finished and then revarnished in July 1923. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It was shipped to Lake Mahopac, New York on July 13, 1923. A copy of a scan of the build record is below:



While some OT color charts have been found, it appears that the colors may have faded, and it matching colors from them is not likely to give you a true match to the original color. Your best bet, if the canoe has the original canvas, is to scrape down to the original red in an area that was not exposed to the sun – such as under one of the outwales. Otherwise, find a dark red you like, or indeed, find any color you like, and paint away.

See the discussion of paint colors and color charts at: http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?7345-Old-Town-color-chart-circa-1920

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