Old Town Help

[Evan Evans]

Good Morning everybody-
I'm looking for some help identifying a pair of Old Town canoes that my grandfather had purchased, I believe, in the late thirties. I now have them and would love some information on them.

One of the canoes has a serial number 132672 16 and the other is 148271 18 (of which the 71 may be a 77).
Both these canoes have seen many a summers of use and have been garaged every year I can remember.

I would love to get any info on them so I can pass them on to my grandchildren!

Thanks again,

Evan

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 132672 is a 16 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between May and August, 1941. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It shipped on October 28th, 1941 to San Francisco, California.

The one with number 148271 is 16 feet long and shipped to Texas while the one with 148277 is 15 feet long and shipped to Illinois. Neither of these are a good match for the 18 foot long canoe indicated by the serial number you provided. Please check the numbers again in each end and provide some pictures of the numbers and surrounding area. The information at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/791/ may help if some of the digits are hard to read.

Scans of these build records can be found below. These scans and several hundred thousand more 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/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. Canoes with a family connection are always extra special. Feel free to reply if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Evan Evans]

Great!
Thanks for the information. The 16 foot one seems to be right in line with our location (northern Calif) and the dates my grandfather would have purchased it. The other canoe is DEFINITELY 18 feet.
I'll check the numbers again. Thanks!

 

[Evan Evans]

Hi Benson,
I took a rubbing of the serial number and came up with 145271 18. Maybe this will get a hit!
Thanks again for all your help.

Evan

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 145271 is an 18 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open spruce gunwales, spruce decks, spruce thwarts, spruce seats, and a keel. It was built between May and July, 1946. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on August 14th, 1946 to San Francisco, California. This seems like a better match.

Benson

 

[Evan Evans]

Outstanding!
Thank you very much. Now I have better information that I can pass on to the next generations!
Greatly appreciated.

Evan