Old Town serial number 139764

[Fingerlakes Canoe Guy]

Hello, I just purchased an Old Town royalex canoe from a man who was selling it for his father who had bought it new in 1972, and has had it stored for twenty-some years. It is apparently one of the first royalex canoes that Old Town made, and I think it is the Chipewyan model. Could you please tell me what you can about this canoe?
Thanks very much,
Fingerlakes Canoe Guy

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 139764 is a 15 foot long square end paddling canoe in wood and canvas from 1944 so that probably isn't yours. My guess is that you may have the one with number 189764. This is an 18 foot long Chipewyan model that was built in May, 1972. The original exterior color was avocado. It shipped on May 19th, 1972 to North Conway, New Hampshire. The back side of this card shows that it had some exterior vinyl breaks and bubbles. Scans of 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 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/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. It should also have a hull identification number on the starboard stern. The page at http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm has more details about how to interpret these numbers. Please attach some pictures of both numbers here if you are still not sure about interpreting yours. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Fingerlakes Canoe Guy]

Thank you very much, Benson. Yes, the avacado 18' (189764) is my canoe. I did notice some blemishes had been patched, both inside and outside, with some materials that closely matches the interior (whitish) and exterior colors.
I looked up the Gralyn Furniture, Inc. in North Conway, NH and came across an article that mentioned that they sold canoes and paintings by local artists as well as furniture.
Thanks again!