I have serial number 109165. It is a 17 ft. Old Town purchased new by my mother in 1931 but I have never looked at the build records or other information that may be available about it.
Very cool that you have a family canoe! (I'd love it, if I had my grandfather's old wooden rowboat).
Old Town 109165 is a 17 foot CS (common sense, or middle) grade HW model canoe that was completed February-July of 1931. It has red Western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, and oak decks, thwarts, and seat frames. Originally, it was painted design #16 (I'll look that up and post it later). The canoe was shipped to Watertown, NY, on July 18, 1931--- check the name on the record to see if it's familiar! The scan of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image.
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 and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in 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.php to renew.
Thank you. What an amazingly fast response!
I do not remember the color design shown. My recollection is a burnt orange color so it must have been repainted before my early memories. I replaced the canvas cover in 1954 with fiberglass and now must pay for my sins as I try to remove it and put canvas back on. Thank you again for the quick response. WAR
Thats the same design that is original to my 1934 Yankee. It also had the name Fanny Dunker painted on it. I can't wait to finish it and get both the design and the name back on them.