vtwoodworker
Enthusiastic about Wooden Canoes
Picked this up locally. Was told it was an old.town. serial on keel reads 17 13792. Any help appreciated!
Thanks!!! That matches the boat, and the history of it starting out its life in Island pond that was told to me by the previous owner. Lookingnforward to this project, this boat is besutiful!The Old Town canoe with serial number 13792 is 17 feet long, AA (top) grade, a Charles River model planked with Maine white cedar, with open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, thwarts and seats and equipped with a keel and half ribs. It was built between February and April 1910. The exterior was originally painted dark green. It was shipped on April 19, 1910 to Island Pond, Vermont. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
View attachment 40646
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/catalogs/old-town/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-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Greg
Thanks Howie. It needs more work than it appears. Several cracked ribs, an entire interior stem is split into 8+ pieces and some planking. A couple spots need some scarphed in pieces in the whales, but its not horrible. I have several other boats available, but I'm a wooden boat guy at heart, so I really want to be paddling a cedar canvas boat every time I go out.From the one picture the canoe looks to be excellent shape! You even have the outer rails - hopefully they're in good enough condition to use. It could well be a gorgeous boat when restored. A 16' canoe is more typical for small water, but 17' could be perfect if you want to use it for camping & family use. The only caveat is that early canoes tend to be a little 'tender', meaning that the can be a bit tippy. But many people love them for this trait as they can be more maneuverable for a well versed paddler.
Do you guys have any notion of how rare it is?