OT Fittings and Hardware?

[airplanedoc]

In the stern of my OT I have a small fitting pictured below. Is it original? if so what is it? Does someone have a link to photos of the various pieces of hardware in an OT? I am just beginning to research my newest acquisition OT 47177 18.

I also have this little gem located midway down the starboard gunwale, its the only one in the canoe incase there are supposed to be multiple fittings

 

[Benson Gray]

The build record for this canoe at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11504&d=1279300861 does not mention any unusual fittings so it appears that these were added after it left the factory. They don't look like anything that I have ever seen in any Old Town catalog. I have no idea what they were intended to do but extensive modifications were not unusual. The canoe shown at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1369&d=1143937521 may give you some ideas.

Benson

 

[Dylan Schoelzel]

I have seen these do-dads before. Only on Old Town's and only one per canoe amidships. We usually have 1 canoe every five+ years or so come through the shop with one of these installed. It's not a common peice of hardware to see. Took me a while to find this one in the shop.

 

[Benson Gray]

The First Parish Church in Portland, Maine has many hooks like these to hold the velvet ropes which restrict access to the balcony as shown in the poor phone camera images below. It appears that hardware like this may have been commonly available in the early 1900s.

My guess is that they may have been used to tie up a canoe at a dock or for rafting up with other canoes on the river. The bracket on the stem in the end may have been a step for a flag pole that went through the deck.

Benson