Serial number 69821

[slufoot]

Greetings,

My family has embarked on the restoration of our family owned Old Town canoe, serial number 69821. It's is rather poor shape but we believe it can be saved. AS I recall this canoe also had a tear drop shaped block on the hull with a round hole in the middle. Dad said it was for a sail, but we never had a sail for the canoe. Any information about this canoe would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Kevin

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 69821 is a 17 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, HW (Heavy Water) model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between February, and May 1922. The original exterior paint color was dark green and Japan drier was used to make it cure more quickly. It was shipped on May 12th, 1922 to New York City. 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 don't match the canoe. A sail rig usually has a block on the hull for the mast step but that was probably added after it left the factory since this wasn't mentioned on the build record. There is some good information about canoe sailing rigs at http://dragonflycanoe.com/otacc/ if you want more details. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson

 

[slufoot]

Benson! I cannot believe how quickly you replied to my request for information. Thank you so much for the detailed description and the build record. We were very curious about what types of wood were used. Now we know! Thank you......thank you.....thank you.

Kevin