Old Town serial

Welcome, it may take more than a serial number alone in this case. The Old Town build record for serial number 30353 shows a 15 foot long canoe so that isn't a good match for the trailing digits that you provided which indicate an 18 foot long canoe. Their number 130353 shows a 16 foot canoe so that is no better. The Kennebec with that number is a 15.5 foot long Joy-Boy motor boat. Can you provide pictures of the serial numbers and surrounding areas from both ends and confirm the overall extreme length in a straight line? Thanks,

Benson
 
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This canoe appears to be 16 feet long by 36 inches wide with mahogany inside gunwales, thwarts, seats, and decks with a lot of repairs which makes 130353 the most likely serial number. Number 130858 is the next most likely if it really has a 33 inch width with spruce inside gunwales and ash trim instead of mahogany.

The Old Town canoe with serial number 130353 is a 16 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Yankee model with open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. It was built between June, 1940 and April, 1941. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on June 14th, 1941 to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. A scan showing this build record can be found below.

This scan 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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/pricing-plans/join to donate or join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer this description doesn't match the canoe. The outside stems and floor rack appear to have been removed in a previous repair. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson



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