OT 15' - question on something I saw....

[The Canoe Kid]

I saw an OT 15' today that looked like it was in pretty original condition. If it helps date the boat, it had a white OT label on one of the decks.

There were two things about the boat that seemed odd to me, though.

First, it didn't have any seats in it. In place of the seats, it had two thwarts.

Second, the main thwart (the one in the center) was a sculpted carrying yoke. It looked original and it was bolted in place with diamond-head bolts. But I've never seen one of these on an OT before.

Do you think the thwarts instead of seats and the carrying yoke were original to the boat?

Thanks

Paddling away...

...the canoe kid.

 

[Benson Gray]

Thwarts were commonly used in place of seats, especially in canoes that were for summer or Scout camps where kneeling was the preferred position. The build record should confirm this. A sculpted carrying yoke is probably not original since the traditional Old Town yoke was padded as shown below in the image from the 1920 catalog. More information like this is avaliable from http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm on the Complete Old Town Canoe Company Catalog Collection CD.

Benson

 

[The Canoe Kid]

Thanks

TCK