Ot 125053-17

The Old Town canoe with serial number 125053 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, a floor rack, a 13 inch depth and a 34 inch width. It was built between May and June, 1938. The original exterior paint color was dark battleship gray. It shipped on June 24th, 1938 to Big Moose, New York. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image 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.

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. Thanks,

Benson
 

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Benson --

Any idea why there would be the entry on depth and width?

The 1936 catalog for a 17' HW shows that 34" was standard width, although standard depth was 12 1/2" not 13". A custom order adding 1/2" depth?

Greg
 
Thanks very much, Benson. I ran across this canoe the other day at Camp Waldheim on Big Moose Lake. So it's still there!
 
A custom order adding 1/2" depth?

That would be my guess. The build records attached below show two other canoes that were built extra deep upon request.

Benson
 

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I can understand wanting an extra 3" for an expedition canoe -- I'm just surprised that anyone would bother with a special order for 1/2".

Would those two build records be for the canoes that were featured a couple of years ago in one of the Assembly evening presentations -- by the fellow who, with a friend, made a long trip in loaned OT canoes, and then tracked them down many years later?
 
I'm just surprised that anyone would bother with a special order for 1/2".

Would those two build records be for the canoes that were featured a couple of years ago in one of the Assembly evening presentations -- by the fellow who, with a friend, made a long trip in loaned OT canoes, and then tracked them down many years later?

I agree, it is surprising. However, the 17 foot long HW was listed as 13 inches deep in the 1908 to 1930 catalogs, 12.5 inches deep from 1931 to 1937, and 12 inches deep from 1938 to 1953 as Dan mentioned so the customer may have wanted to match an older version of this model.

Rob Thum's trip with those canoes and subsequent efforts to track them down was an evening presentation at the Assembly in 2012. The red one was shown at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=21828&d=1341192776 on the green. He also follows this forum occasionally and may offer more comments.

Benson
 
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