sailing canoe serial number

[Phil Hewett]

I've recently acquired an Old Town sailing canoe from my uncle who got the canoe in the late 1940's. The serial number is:

113163 17. I'm trying to find out when it was manufactured.

 

[Greg Nolan]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 113163 is a 17 foot long, AA (top or premium) grade Otca model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales and 20” decks, seats, and thwarts, outside stems and equipped with a keel and floor rack. It was built between November 1933 and June 1934. The original exterior paint was done in design # 23, with the name “Shawnee” painted on. It was shipped to Norfolk, Virginia July 2, 1934. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached 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.

Greg Nolan