Old Town Square Back 85268 16'

[David Miller]

Barn find - a neighbor tears down barns and found this square back in the rafters of a barn he was tearing down. After a couple of hours of cleaning out the straw, bird nests, and associated dirt one would find in a barn we found that it is an Old Town canoe. It would have been an easy recanvasing except for the mice deciding to put their on special round over on several of the ribs and a couple of new scuppers in the planking. What would the holes in the seats be for? There are several pulleys throughout and a turning block in the bow. I thought maybe it would have been set up for sailing but there is no evidence of rudder mounts on the transom and no fittings for the mast butt on the keelson. Thanks for any incite or ideas.
Benson could you send me the build sheet - Thanks.

Dave

 

[Benson Gray]

Congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 85268 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, speed square stern model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, maple decks, spruce thwarts, spruce seats, a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. It was built between August and September, 1924. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on September, 15th, 1924 to Tionesta, 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 as you probably know well. 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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match. My guess is that someone started to set this up for sailing but never finished. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[David Miller]

Thanks Benson - it is surprisingly in good shape for being that old and obviously not being taken care of but stored out of the weather and dry. Would you know what the HP rating would have been in 1924?

 

[Benson Gray]

Would you know what the HP rating would have been in 1924?

The 1924 catalog shown at http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?attachments/39373/ simply says "the standard makes of Rowboat Motors." The pages at https://www.yankeeaomci.org/johnsonat85.htm and https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1924-johnson-2hp-antique-vintage-490936970 indicate that a Johnson from that era was about two horsepower. It is very easy to overpower an old boat so I would encourage you to be conservative. Good luck,

Benson