The Old Town canoe with serial number 71298 is shown as 16 feet long, CS (common sense or standard) grade, model HW as Otca, with western red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, 20” maple decks, maple seats, and thwarts, and equipped with a keel. The canoe was built between April an May 1922. The original exterior paint was orange (oil in japan). It was shipped to Rochester, New York on June 1, 1922. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached 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/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe.
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-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.As to where to get gunwales made, go to our home page and check the Builders and Suppliers directory for a builder in your area.
When considering any restoration work, whether you plan to do it yourself or to hire a professional, there are three good sources of information about canoe restoration that you would do well to get, or at least look at, before making any decision about how to repair or restore your canoe:
The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide to its History, Construction, Restoration, and Maintenance by Rollin Thurlow and Jerry Stelmok
Building the Maine Guide Canoe by Jerry Stelmok
This Old Canoe: How To Restore Your Wood-Canvas Canoe, by Mike Elliott
The first is often called the "bible" of canoe repair, restoration, and maintenance; the second is an excellent study of the wooden/canvas canoe and its construction. The third is the most recently published and has been well received.
Of course, you can always ask questions here on the forums. Our members have a great deal of information, based on their experience, about repari and restoration of canoes.
You might also want to look at
The Old Town Canoe Company by Susan Audette and David Baker, a great history of the Old Town company and its canoes.
These books are all available from the WCHA store, are often on eBay, or from Amazon.
Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Greg