Old Town Canoes
- Thread starter lensethb
- Start date
Kathryn Klos
squirrel whisperer
Hello, Bob--
Old Town 126066 is a 15 foot CS (common sense, or middle) grade 50# (fifty pound) model canoe that was finished between December 1938 and January 1939. It has open spruce gunwales, ash decks and thwarts, a keel, outside stems, and was originally gray enamel. It has copper and brass fastenings throughout. ("Brass" is added at the end of the notation, so perhaps they were saying the canoe has copper fastenings which aren't common, and then added "brass" because some brass was used as well--- someone else may be able to shed light on this as I've never encountered this notation). The canoe also has rubber bumpers around stems and rails. It was shipped to Hunter College in New York on January 30, 1939.
Interesting canoe! Are the rubber bumpers still there?
The scan of this record is attached below-- click on it 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 and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in 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 renew.
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.
My computer is being a butthead and will not open the file for your other build record. Maybe it will comply in time.... until then, maybe one of the other volunteers will look up your other canoe. I think my computer is confused because I'm watching something on Hulu and looking at the WCHA website instead of watching the commercials.
Kathy
Old Town 126066 is a 15 foot CS (common sense, or middle) grade 50# (fifty pound) model canoe that was finished between December 1938 and January 1939. It has open spruce gunwales, ash decks and thwarts, a keel, outside stems, and was originally gray enamel. It has copper and brass fastenings throughout. ("Brass" is added at the end of the notation, so perhaps they were saying the canoe has copper fastenings which aren't common, and then added "brass" because some brass was used as well--- someone else may be able to shed light on this as I've never encountered this notation). The canoe also has rubber bumpers around stems and rails. It was shipped to Hunter College in New York on January 30, 1939.
Interesting canoe! Are the rubber bumpers still there?
The scan of this record is attached below-- click on it 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 and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in 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 renew.
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.
My computer is being a butthead and will not open the file for your other build record. Maybe it will comply in time.... until then, maybe one of the other volunteers will look up your other canoe. I think my computer is confused because I'm watching something on Hulu and looking at the WCHA website instead of watching the commercials.
Kathy
Attachments
Old Town 95417 15
Bob,
The build records on your canoe #95417 15 are pretty hard to read.
It was built in 1927 and shipped to New York in 1928. As I read it, this was a CS or Common Sense quality 50-lb model with open spruce gunwales and ash decks. Originally it was painted dark green. I can't read the notation of the length, but I assume it was 15.
There was also a note made of a phone call in 1982 with someone in Edgewater, New Jersey, (a fine place for boats, by the way), so it had probably migrated there in 1982.
If these details don't fit your canoe, it may be a different one. Please note what Kathy said above about the other serial number and the WCHA.
I've posted both the build record and the record of the phone call below.
Norm
Bob,
The build records on your canoe #95417 15 are pretty hard to read.
It was built in 1927 and shipped to New York in 1928. As I read it, this was a CS or Common Sense quality 50-lb model with open spruce gunwales and ash decks. Originally it was painted dark green. I can't read the notation of the length, but I assume it was 15.
There was also a note made of a phone call in 1982 with someone in Edgewater, New Jersey, (a fine place for boats, by the way), so it had probably migrated there in 1982.
If these details don't fit your canoe, it may be a different one. Please note what Kathy said above about the other serial number and the WCHA.
I've posted both the build record and the record of the phone call below.
Norm
Attachments
Kathryn Klos
squirrel whisperer
I finally got the record to come up, and it's just as you said, Norm. Sometimes the ink on these records is faint and isn't picked up well on the original scan.
Neat to see two fifty pounders that seem very different even though they are the same size. My guess is that outside stems aren't common on the 50#, as they add weight... but they probably make the little canoe look pretty nice. It's also a guess of mine that the Hunter College Phy Ed Department put the outside stems on their canoe as additional protection, not necessarily for looks. Seems they didn't trust the paddling-ability of the students...
Kathy
Neat to see two fifty pounders that seem very different even though they are the same size. My guess is that outside stems aren't common on the 50#, as they add weight... but they probably make the little canoe look pretty nice. It's also a guess of mine that the Hunter College Phy Ed Department put the outside stems on their canoe as additional protection, not necessarily for looks. Seems they didn't trust the paddling-ability of the students...
Kathy
Greg Nolan
enthusiast
Bob --
If your canoe still has the rubber bumpers, I would be interested in seeing a picture. My 1931 OT 50 # model with outside stems was originally shipped to the Georgia State College of Agriculture phys. ed. department with rubber bumpers, although there is no longer any trace of them (The canoe was returned to OT in 1932 to repair damage that apparently occurred in shipment; after being repaired, it was sold to someone in Millinocket, ME -- I suspect the bumpers were removed for resale.)
I have no intention of restoring the bumpers -- just curious to see what they looked like, and what phys. ed. departments thought was necessary to keep their canoes intact. I wonder that they did not buy a more sturdily-built boat than the 50 # model in the first place.
If your canoe still has the rubber bumpers, I would be interested in seeing a picture. My 1931 OT 50 # model with outside stems was originally shipped to the Georgia State College of Agriculture phys. ed. department with rubber bumpers, although there is no longer any trace of them (The canoe was returned to OT in 1932 to repair damage that apparently occurred in shipment; after being repaired, it was sold to someone in Millinocket, ME -- I suspect the bumpers were removed for resale.)
I have no intention of restoring the bumpers -- just curious to see what they looked like, and what phys. ed. departments thought was necessary to keep their canoes intact. I wonder that they did not buy a more sturdily-built boat than the 50 # model in the first place.
