serial number 147314

[dbaltzly]

Dear WCHA,
Can you provide me with any additional information on this Old Town canoe which my father purchased second-hand in Ohio in the late 1960s. The canoe has not tasted water since 1971, but it has been stored in a climate controlled garage. Visual inspection shows nothing alarming looking. Should I anticipate unseen problems?

Thanks for this splendid website. This site is testimony to the web's capacity to bring people with a special interest together in a useful way.
Yours,
Dirk

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hello Dirk,

Old Town 147314 is a 16 foot CS (common sense or middle grade) Otca model canoe that was completed December of 1946 to February 1947. It has spruce planking (this differs from most OT canoes, which are generally cedar), open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seat frames and a keel. It was originally dark green. It was shipped to Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh, PA, on March 18, 1947.

Canoes from about 1943-1947 may be constructed using different materials, because of war shortages. If your canoe has slat seats, it's because they ran out of cane. This may also explain the spruce planking. Glad to know she's still in great shape. These canoes can go on forever, because they are built with component parts that can be replicated.

If you'd like to post pictures, we love pictures! If the canoe looks good to your eye, put her in the water and see what happens. Sometimes there's a bit of leaking until things swell a bit, and then the canoe is okay to go without even changing the canvas.

A copy of the scan of this record is attached below-- click on it for a larger image.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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php 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.


More information on the Old Town Company can be found in Sue Audette's book, Old Town, Our First Hundred Years, which is available through the WCHA store and most booksellers, eBay, Amazon, and public libraries.

Kathy

 

[dbaltzly]

thanks

Dear Kathy,
Thanks for the information. 147314 must have gotten lucky: she has the cane seats rather than the slats. She is still wearing a green livery in about this colour. I don't know whether that is the original colour or not. My father *thinks* that the previous owner may have had it re-covered, but he is not sure.

The water test for Dad's Old Town may wait a while. I've been living overseas for almost 20 years now. Very difficult to put a 16 foot canoe in your carry-on! Some day though we may put her in the water again. I have very fond memories of it from my childhood.

Best wishes and thanks for all your help.
Dirk

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Fond childhood memories is one reason so many of these wonderful old canoes exist! Hope she takes more generations of your family on adventures!

Kathy

 

[Fitz]

Sometimes there's a bit of leaking until things swell a bit, and then the canoe is okay to go without even changing the canvas.

Unlike some forms of wooden boat construction, swelling is a non-issue with wood and canvas canoes. The canvas on wood/canvas canoes was meant to be watertight. If you have leaking, it is time to think about a canvas job which is fairly easily done.