Requesting information on an Old Town Oltonar canoe

[Del Keeney]

Hi.

I'm in the process of purchasing an Old Town canoe with this serial number. What background information is available for it?

214821

Thanks so much in advance for your assistance!

Del Keeney

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 214821 is a 15 foot long Chipewyan model that weighed 57 pounds. It was built between September and October, 1976. The original exterior color was yellow. It shipped on April 15th, 1977 to York, Pennsylvania. 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.

Benson

 

[Del Keeney]

Thanks for the prompt response.

Thank you for the helpful information on this vintage canoe. Interestingly, the advertisement/catalog listing from that period has that model at 64 lbs. I'm happy if it is actually lighter, but am curious about the discrepency. Not expecting an answer on this; just ruminating.

Thanks again for your response.

Del Keeney

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

Catalog weights have always been rather "fluid" over the years. The 1975 catalog weight for that boat is 59 lbs. There were also some trim out changes over time that changed actual weights. Seats went from solid ABS (white) to foam filled polyethylene (tan) for more flotation, decks eventually also changed from ABS (white) to polyethylene (black) and the vinyl gunwales on some models got a strip of aluminum angle added inside them to give them more strength. Other models eventually got wood-framed seats with webbing. Back when he was the national sales manager, Wendell Tremblay told me that the molds for the foam filled seats cost something like $10K each (in 1970s money) and so there were very few sizes made. On boats where the stock seats wouldn't fit in the desired places, wood-framed seats were used instead.

We occasionally used to take that 14'10" Mini Tripper, take the seats out, add a foam saddle and knee straps in the middle, pull the gunwales inward a bit with shorter thwarts and turn it into a solo whitewater boat. This was before the days when companies started offering similar boats tricked out especially as solo whitewater play boats.

 

[Del Keeney]

Much appreciated

Catalog weights have always been rather "fluid" over the years. The 1975 catalog weight for that boat is 59 lbs. There were also some trim out changes over time that changed actual weights. Seats went from solid ABS (white) to foam filled polyethylene (tan) for more flotation, decks eventually also changed from ABS (white) to polyethylene (black) and the vinyl gunwales on some models got a strip of aluminum angle added inside them to give them more strength. Other models eventually got wood-framed seats with webbing. Back when he was the national sales manager, Wendell Tremblay told me that the molds for the foam filled seats cost something like $10K each (in 1970s money) and so there were very few sizes made. On boats where the stock seats wouldn't fit in the desired places, wood-framed seats were used instead.

We occasionally used to take that 14'10" Mini Tripper, take the seats out, add a foam saddle and knee straps in the middle, pull the gunwales inward a bit with shorter thwarts and turn it into a solo whitewater boat. This was before the days when companies started offering similar boats tricked out especially as solo whitewater play boats.

Thanks for those insights. I hope to see the canoe this week. The gunwales on this one appear to be aluminum from the pictures. I would have expected that the wood-framed seats were premium seats, but your comments suggest that perhaps it was the other way around. I've been told that this one has plastic seats, but don't know which until I see the boat. That's a fascinating description of what you did to customize the 14'10" for whitewater soloing! I would not have thought about that as an option. In any case, it appears that this canoe was lightly used, well cared for, and kept indoors for storage throughout its almost 40 year life. I hope to put it to some good use in the future.