Serial Number 15 80564

[olcrash]

Hello, This is a first post for me.
I just purchased a wood and canvas canoe at a tag sale. I know nothing about them, but looking forward to diving in. I have no idea what company made my canoe, I was hoping you could help. From looking at pictures it looks like the chestnut bobs special. when measured its just under 15'. It has a serial number. as far as I can tell the serial number is '15 80564'. the 80 is vary clear. Im not 100% about the rest of the numbers.

Thanks for any help in identifying this canoe!!

Greg

 

[Benson Gray]

You may want to take another look at the serial numbers since the Old Town canoe with serial number 80564 is a 16 feet long and probably not yours. None of their 8056x serial numbers were assigned to a 15 foot long canoe. The information at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=791 may help with the numbers. The Wood Canoe Identification Guide at http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/ may help you identify the manufacturer. The Old Town and Chestnut decks were quite different so check out those sections first. Feel free to reply here if you can narrow down the number a bit more or if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[olcrash]

15 80584

Not sure about the deck, it looks like someone did some work to it.
After a closer look I think its an 8 not a 6 for the 4th digit. Does this make more sense for an old town??

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 80584 is a 17 feet long so that probably isn't yours. My guess is that you have serial number 80581. This is the only 15 foot long canoe in the 8058x range. It is a CS grade, fifty pound model with red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch trim, and painter rings. It was built between September 1923 and early 1924. The original exterior paint color was bright green(?). It shipped on March 3rd, 1924 to Albany, New York. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan was 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/catalogs/old-town/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.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.

Benson

 

[olcrash]

I just dont know

First of all, this is the best website ive come across in a long time, just let me know where to send donations to keep this going.

I would say that is the canoe except, when I looked on draganfly, the 15' 50# canoe has a 34.5" beam, this canoe has a 33" beam. I attached two pics. One of the stern deck and one of the ribs. Do you think this could be the canoe discribed above? Do you think this could be an Old Town?

Thank you,
Greg

 

[Dan Miller]

Your canoe is definitely not an Old Town, but rather is Canadian in origin. I don't see enough yet to peg it though...

 

[olcrash]

ok

Thanks for the input
what part of the canoe can I take a pic of for you to know??
I would very much like to come up with a manufacturer!!

Greg

 

[olcrash]

Canadian

What in the pictures are you looking at that shows this canoe is from a canadian manufacturer??
(see more pic's)

 

[Dan Miller]

The signs that it is Canadian are the extra-wide cant ribs, the untapered inwales, and the presence of a shoe keel. Oak gunwales are also more often found in Canadian-built boats. While the narrow ribs are sometimes found in US-built boats, it again is much more common in Canadian-built boats.

On of the photos in your other post shows a planking pattern that is sort of odd, and leads me to believe it is not a Chestnut or Peterborough...

 

[olcrash]

Gooseberry?

Dan (or anyone else),
Do you think its possible my canoe could be a chestnut gooseberry (2nd grade)???

Lenght is right...15'
beam is right...33"
cant ribs is right...4"
thwart is right...single
ribs are 1.5"...dont know if this is right

I know the decks are wrong, but its obvious they have been replace, along with most of the outer gunwales and posibly parts of the inner gunwales.

It clearly (after a very close look) is stamped on the bow stem "15 80 584"

One last question. Do you think it would be worth it to restore this canoe??? I have $100.00 invested.

 

[Dan Miller]

Probably not a Gooseberry. If we assume it is a Chestnut (and there is a good chance it is), then it would be a Chum (or possibly Deer). The Gooseberry never had the narrow ribs. Could also be the Peterborough or Canadian Canoe companies' version of the same model, which are essentially all the same (hence the generic use of "Peternut").

Is it worth restoring? Depends. Is it covered in canvas or in fiberglass? If the latter, it just means more work. Looks like it may have been used in salt water. If that is true, then those little halos around the fasteners may never dissapear. That is mostly a cosmetic thing, though extreme cases have weak fasteners (use in salt water causes dezincification of brass and bronze, which in turn causes the halos).

On the plus side, the Chum is a fantastic paddling canoe (at this time it is my favorite solo canoe). If you choose to restore it, I guarantee you will love the way it paddles (if you don't, I'll give you what you paid for it...). Chestnuts are relatively easy to restore - they don't have the extreme gunwale bends that Old Towns, Morrises and other canoes have.

On another hand - if you plan to re-sell the canoe, sell it as is. You probably won't get enough for the restored canoe to make it worthwhile.

Did you pay too much? Gil Cramer, one of our members here, once said that every canoe is worth $75. That was so long ago, that with inflation, you are right on target...

Cheers,
Dan

 

[DGuertin]

Real? Or Not?

Gad! I dunno who or what, but when I zoomed in on one of your your attached photos to see where all the holes where for thwarts and seats ('cos it looked odd to have a 15-footer with only the single centre thwart) and I see that little face popping up over the far end, I sure jumped back from the screen!

Eyesights getting bad so I doff the glasses and lean REAL close to see the detail so I got an extra shock!