Serial number request for a pair of 17' Otcas

rapidan

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hi friends. Once again, thanks in advance for this valuable service.
A friend has this pair of Otcas hanging from the rafters of a boathouse in upstate NY. I haven't seen them in person but from the pics they look like they might be in OK shape. The red canoe with sailing rig is serial # 145118 17. The green one is 124645 17. Any info available would be welcome!

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The Old Town canoe with serial number 124645 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Otca model with open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, a floor rack, a painter ring, and a bang plate along the full length of the keel. It was built between March, 1938 and January, 1939. The original exterior paint color was dark green with the name Norm in gold on the right and left sides of the bow. It shipped on June, 6th, 1939 to Georgetown, D.C.

The Old Town canoe with serial number 145118 is a 17 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Otca model with open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between May and July, 1946. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on July 30th, 1946 to Clayton, New York. Scans showing both of these build records can be found below.

These scans and several hundred thousand more were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others as you probably know well. 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 donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/pricing-plans/join to donate or renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer these descriptions don't match the canoes. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson



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Benson, as always, thank you! Fascinating stuff. The boats live near Clayton, so the info on the newer one makes sense. I'm not sure if the family that owns the boats ever had a connection to the Sycamore Island Club, but I do - My sister is a member and I've been over there hundreds of times. It's main purpose is canoeing and a few wood & canvas canoes still live there. It's technically not in Georgetown but close by - They probably took delivery through the Washington Canoe Club, which is right under Key Bridge in Georgetown. I'll have my friends check the numbers again for confirmation. And thanks again!
 
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