Serial # location?

[davelanthier]

Looking at a 16' Old Town "guide" canoe with machine caned seats. I suspect it is a 1960's vintage but I couldn't find any serial #'s on the stems. Where exactly are they located? It has been "F"glassed on the exterior and painted in the interior. Wish people wouldn't do that. Thanks

 

[Michael Grace]

Dave- splined pre-woven cane, as opposed to the hand-woven through holes in the seat frame, would be consistent with '60s vintage. In these as in other Old Towns, serial numbers are stamped into the upper face of the stem on each end of the canoe. Numbers are large- no missing them unless they are filled with paint/varnish/dirt, or unless they have been obliterated by over-aggressive sanding. Apply a little stripper to the stem faces maybe 8"-10" from their ends out to the ends. Should allow you to get through the gunk well enough to see them.