Old town 50lb

[Chickerson]

Just bought what I believe to be an old town yankee model, 11ft canoe. Was hoping to see if anyone can find the build sheet? Unfortunately one of the owners way back fiberglassed this canoe and its showing signs of rot in the bow and stern stems. Other wise it’s all there! Might need another revarnishing as it seems to have bubbles in it from heat or uv rays I’m assuming.

I’m seeing the id on one section 64369 with z11 for the length. Not sure what the other stem is trying to say. I can try the paper pencil method to see if it will bleed off on it.

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, you appear to have an 11 foot long fifty pound model from Old Town with hand caned seats. This length was introduced in the 1926 catalog and the pressed cane seats were introduced in the late 1930s. That means that you should have a serial number somewhere between 90K and 130K. Your pictures appear to show a 1643x 11 serial number, but the first digit may be cropped out. My guess is that you may have serial number 116437. This is an 11 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Fifty Pound model with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between October, 1935 and March, 1936. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It shipped to New York City on March 17th, 1936. 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 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. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[Chickerson]

Thanks Benson!