OT Ojibwa. serial number might be 134265

workingbadger

Mad Badger
In Memoriam
Just found this canoe sitting on top my car. The serial number might be 134265 15. Pretty sure it is 1342_5 15. But almost positive it is 134__5 15.

Anybody care to help out? Pretty rough shape. Interesting small bump rail tight up, under the outwale. Photos attached.

Also interesting,. it has three thwarts, and no seats. Comments?
 

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We can see what the build record bears out, but the trim under the outwale was a common fix add-on or attempt to hold up rotten canvas under the gunwales.
 
The Old Town canoe with serial number 134255 is a 15 foot long, CS (common sense or standard) grade 50 pound model with open spruce gunwales, ash seats, decks and thwarts, and equipped with a keel and floor rack. It was built between December 1941 and January 1921. The original exterior paint color was dark red. It was shipped to Lake Hopatocong, New Jersey on May 1, 1942. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below.
134255 - 45387.jpg

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 -- as seems likely in this case. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

The other canoes with numbers 1342X5 are 11’, 16’, or 18’ in length. Have you actually measured the length of your canoe? What makes you think it is an Ojibwa model?

A 15’ foot 50 pounder usually has only a center thwart. One with three thwarts (two to replace the seats) would be a special order and that would be reflected on the build record.

Checking the numbers 134XX5 means picking out and reviewing some 100 build records from a list of at least 500, selected from a full list of 1000 -- no small task. I don't have the time to do that right now, and before I were to undertake it, I would like to have a bit more information so as to have some certainty that a given record might match your canoe -- such as the wood used in your decks, seats, rails, whether there is evidence of a rack or other distinguishing features, and certainty from actual measurement of the length of the canoe.

Greg Nolan
 
15' oJIBWA.

tHANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORT SO FAR. i APPRECIATE IT. i WILL TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT IT. sINCE THE SERIAL NUMBER IS FOLLOWED BY "15", AND THE DECKS HAVE THE 'CUT IN' HANDLE, i AM PRETTY SURE ITS A 15 FOOT oJIBWA. tHE DECKS APPEARED TO BE mAHOHANY OR OAK, BUT i WILL LOOK AGAIN. i DON'T RECALL ANY FLORR RAIL MOUNTS, BUT IT DID HAVE THE BRASS WASHERS INDICATING A KEEL.

i WILL LOOK AGAIN. tHANKS. Darn, sorry for the CAPS.......
 
The difference between oak and mahogany would be significant -- oak indicates CS grade, mahogany indicates AA grade.
 
My guess is that you have the Old Town with serial number 134365. This is a 15 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Ojibway model with open spruce gunwales, mahogany decks with the hand hold, ash thwarts in place of seats, no seats, oval ash finish rails, and a keel. It was built between December, 1941 and May, 1942. The original exterior paint color was aluminum. It shipped on May 25th, 1942 to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. See http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?11946 for another example that shipped on the same order.

This model was not listed in the catalogs and appears to have been built on the same form as the fifty pound model. Please reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson
 

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Dan, Thank you once again for your work. It looks like you nailed it again! I cannot say how much I appreciate the work of you and everyone else at WCHA.

Next, I would like to say that I find every canoe I come across to be interesting. Whether it is the construction, the history, or the handling properties, I just find them interesting. I wonder about who made them, who paddled them, and what waters they have plied. Sometimes I go to the garage and just look at them, admiring the craftsmanship, and letting my imagination wander through possibilities.

That being said, I find this one to be particularly interesting, because:
It is an Ojibway, which isn’t listed in the catalog,
It was started the day after Pearl Harbor, 12/8/1941,
The color was ‘aluminum’,
Although CS grade, it had mahogany decks,
It was shipped to Indian Mounds Scout Reservation (which explains the lack of seats).

Thanks again Dan !
 
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