Old Town Serial Number Discovered!

[Greggtheegg]

Hi everyone,

I have what I am thinking is a 1930s Old Town wood and canvas canoe. On the spine going down the middle of the floor of the canoe, on the end of the canoe opposite of the mesh seat (after cleaning it off and looking VERY CLOSELY) we found the numbers 87514 18. Someone told me a number in that format means Old Town; is that right?

Thanks!!!!

 

[Benson Gray]

It is highly likely that you have an Old Town canoe. The one with serial number 87514 is an 18 foot long, AA grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with red Western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany trim, a keel, a floor rack, and sponsons. It was built between September, 1925 and February, 1926. The original exterior paint color was light maroon with a half inch gold stripe and turned down ends. It was probably similar to the image at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design27.gif which was known as design number 27. It shipped on March 3rd, 1926 to Detroit, Michigan. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan and over 200,000 similar ones 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 join or renew your membership to 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.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

 

[Greggtheegg]

Thank you so much for the information! We've been searching for it for quite a while, and I can't believe we just got it!!! Thanks again!