Old Town Sr# 20904 17ft

[Peter Palmer]

Would greatly appreciate build sheet and any info. Found this one hanging in a Vt. Barn under inches of dirt. Seems to be very early--Closed gunwales and no taper in ribs. Appears to be an OT HW CS? Thanks for any help, Peter Palmer

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 20904 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Charles River model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, and a keel. It was built between February and April, 1912. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on May 4th, 1912 to New Hampshire. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached below.

This scan and several hundred thousand others 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.

This may not look like an HW model in CS grade so it might be worth taking another look at the digits in each end. Some of the tips at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?791 may help. It does not appear to be number 120904 since that is 16 feet long. It would also be helpful to know which digit is the least clear or to have you attach pictures of the serial numbers from each end. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Peter Palmer]

Benson, Thanks for all the info. On closer inspection the bottom is a bit flat to be an HW. The thwarts as well as the decks are mahogany. The lack of taper in the ribs is something I had not seen before in an OT, but then again I am pretty new at this. Thanks, Peter P.

 

[Peter Palmer]

Benson, Looks like 20904 was shipped to West Swanzey NH-- it was found in Windham Vt. About 70 miles, so it doesnt look like it made it too far from home. Thanks again , Peter p