Serial Number Request

[Patricia Reid]

Hello!

We are looking for more information about a wood-and-canvas Old Town Sailing Dinghy we have in our collections at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. We believe the serial number is 115728 (photo below).

We think it was built in the 1920s and was eventually owned by Bill Kissam of Westport, New York.

Any information you can confirm or add would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Patricia

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town with serial number 115728 is a nine foot long, AA (or top) grade, dinghy model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany seats, a keel, outside stems, a floor rack, and a daggerboard. It was built between April and June, 1935. The original exterior paint color was white. It shipped on June 25th, 1935 to Westport, New York. A scan of this build record can be found below.

This scan 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 https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck,

Benson

 

[Patricia Reid]

This is incredibly helpful information, Benson, thank you! It fits with what we have in our records as far as location and size and has added some much-needed context for dating.

If you're in New England this summer, I hope you'll come find us in Vergennes, VT, to see this boat (and many more!) when we open for the season on May 20. We're very grateful to the WCHA for making these archival materials available to us.

Best,
Patricia