old town

[Unregistered]

I think I put my request in the wrong area.
Looking for info on 43342 16 and 113259 16. Both are believed to have been owned by founder of a major steel company

Thanks,

Kathleen

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 43342 is a 16 foot, AA grade, Double Ended Boat model with western red cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany trim, a keel, outside stems, a floor rack, and painter rings. It was built between May and July, 1916. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on July 5th, 1916 to the Cobb Camps in Denmark, Maine.

There is a nice picture of one at this camp on page 4 of the 1919 Old Town catalog. This and lots of other good information is available at http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm on the Complete Old Town Canoe Company Catalog Collection CD. The camp is now known as Camp Winona (http://www.winonacamps.com/ ) and is also home to the Maine Canoe Symposium (http://www.mainecanoesymposium.org/) every June.

The Old Town canoe with serial number 113259 is a 15 foot, CS grade, Fifty Pound model with western red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, oak decks, oak trim, and no(?) keel. It was built between November, 1933 and May, 1934. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on May 15th, 1934 to Philadelphia, Penna.

Scans of these build records can be found by following the links behind the thumbnail images attached below. These scans were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about 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 contribute to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.html to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if these descriptions don't match your canoes. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[Unregistered]

not sure

there was no mention of sponsons on the shipping record why would this be?

 

[Benson Gray]

It would be highly unusual to have a canoe go out of the factory with sponsons and not have this noted on the build record. My guess is that your canoe has a different serial number from what you have written down. You may want to use a flashlight at a very low angle to see if the shadows will show the digits more clearly. The grave rubbing technique of using a piece of paper and a crayon may also help. Confirm that the length if feet matches the last two digits, let me know which digits are the least clear, and if your canoe has any other obvious options. Then I will search the records again to see if we can find a better match.

Benson

 

[Unregistered]

still not sure

when i spoke with Pat Smith, (Willow hollow) after sending him pictures, he said something about double gunwales, the mahogany trim and possibly the twarts, floor rack . He did not say anything about painter rings. We did not see anything like that on the canoe. the threes were the digit that was most unclear. my husband thinks that it was the first three that was least clear. I am wondering if it could have been an eight. Pat did say something about a picture of it in the 1910 Old Town catalog. Tonight I have been able to track down a descendent of the owner and I know it was stored at Jamestown RI. The family had a home there (Foxhill) it was just outside of newport RI. I know that we are going to have to order the CD at some point.

 

[Benson Gray]

I have looked at 43842, 48842, and 48342 but none of them have sponsons or mahogany trim. Let me know if you get a better look at that number.

Benson