Looking for any information about the history of this canoe, which we picked up at the Brimfield antique fair in the 1990s. We think it's a 50 Pounder. We are beginning repair/restoration.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 156743 is a 15 foot long fifty pound model with red western cedar, open spruce gunwales, and a keel. It was built between November, 1951 and March, 1952. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It shipped on April 9th, 1952 to Portland, Maine. 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. Good luck with the restoration.
Thank you for the information and build record for the canoe. We are excited about finally getting to work on it this winter. We will probably be seeking advice through some of these forums!