Serial # 164148

[Norm Hein]

I am buying a "Old Town" canoe with this serial#164148. The family story isn' quite mathcing up with the canoe. I figure it was made in the mid/late fifties. The seller is saying 1948. It has a metal Old Town badge on it and I thought thouse didn't come out until much later. As far as I can see there is no "size" marking after the serial number.
Can anyone help me with information on this canoe?
Thanks,
Norm

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town with serial number 164148 is a 15 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, fifty pound model with a keel. It was built between October and November, 1955. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on June 4th, 1956 to Flint, Michigan.

A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the thumbnail image attached below. This scan and several hundred thousand more 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.

The metal tags did not appear until 1979 as shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/covers/large-79.gif on the catalog cover. It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Please reply here if you have any other questions. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Norm Hein]

Thanks Benson. This helps a lot. This will be my first wood/canvas canoe. Is there any other make of canoe that would use this type of serial numbering?

 

[Benson Gray]

Is there any other make of canoe that would use this type of serial numbering?

Yes, many other manufacturers put serial numbers on their canoes and a hull identification number (HIN) have been required in the United States since 1972. The page at http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.htm has more information about the HIN. The page at https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety/debs-obs-construction-manufacturer-menu-1690.htm describes a similar Canadian requirement. Dan Miller wrote a great pair of articles on this topic in 2008 and 2009 titled "The Numbers Game - Serial Numbers and What They Can Tell You" in the Wooden Canoe Journal. See issues number 144 on pages 6-8 and 145 on pages 10-12 for more details. Back issues of the Journal are available at http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-Magazine-Back-Issues/ in the WCHA store.

It is common for there to be confusion between manufacturers with canoes that have lower serial numbers but I don't know of any other manufacturer who might have put a 16xxxx 15 format number on the inside stem of a wooden canoe. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question. Thanks,

Benson