My father handed down his 17' Old Town canoe to me back in the eighties. I finally have the time and resources to attempt a nice restoration on it. He gave me a letter he received from Old Town in response to an inquiry about the date of manufacture. The response, dated 1964, stated that the canoe was over 60 years old and their records were incomplete. Does anybody have a canoe with a serial number that is in close proximity so I can get a closer time frame?
Old Town SN 793
- Thread starter Jim Young
- Start date
The short answer is no, there isn't much information available to date Old Town canoes which are older than the existing records. There are two Old Towns with serial numbers 1473 and 2781 which have been identified by the remains of an early style decal on the deck but there are no records to date them. These canoes have been discussed at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=455 and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=2780 if you are curious.
There is very little known about serial numbers that were issued before Old Town started keeping records in the current collection of cards. We don't even know what year they started numbering their canoes. It can also be very difficult to determine if one of these low serial numbers is an Old Town without an original name plate on the deck. Many other builders used similar construction techniques and serial numbers. Usuallly the low serial numbers like this are on canoes that were built by the various Charles River area builders but none of their records still exist as far as we know. You may want to post some pictures here or review the information and pictures at http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/ to see if you can identify it by any other characteristics. Good luck,
Benson
There is very little known about serial numbers that were issued before Old Town started keeping records in the current collection of cards. We don't even know what year they started numbering their canoes. It can also be very difficult to determine if one of these low serial numbers is an Old Town without an original name plate on the deck. Many other builders used similar construction techniques and serial numbers. Usuallly the low serial numbers like this are on canoes that were built by the various Charles River area builders but none of their records still exist as far as we know. You may want to post some pictures here or review the information and pictures at http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/ to see if you can identify it by any other characteristics. Good luck,
Benson
