SN 33959-17 Record?

[DaveKunz]

Hi All -
My winter project this year is a 17' canoe with serial number 33959 17 on both stems. Any help identifying it and a copy of the build record would be much appreciated.
It's in bad shape, but my first guess is that it's an unknown model Old Town. Clues are the typical OT hand-hold decks and general shape. It features half-ribs throughout, 3 thwarts, open gunwales, and I think spruce rails. It doesn't have the OT diamond-head hardware however - just flat-head screws which may or may not be original. Original color seems to be red, although it's been repainted a couple times. Sadly the inside has also been painted white a couple times - an extra challenge with the half-ribs! Needless to say there's no sign of a decal -- it's been painted over too.
I can supply some photos if that would help, but it's pretty sad right now.
Thanks!!

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 33959 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Ideal model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, half ribs, and a keel. It was built between September and December, 1914. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on June 3rd, 1916 to Oil City, Penna. 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 doesn't match your canoe. This pre-dates the use of diamond headed bolts so the original screws would have been covered with wooden plugs. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson

 

[DaveKunz]

Thanks, Benson.
That's the right canoe all right. Pretty impressive -- 98 years old! Glad to know that little factoid about OT not using the diamond head hardware -- indeed the original screws are countersunk deeply and covered with a wooden plug. I'm surprised to learn that the canoe was trimmed in mahogany -- the rails and decks are so badly rotted that it's hard to tell what they're made of. I did think that the thwarts looked like mahogany under the paint.

I have another question: The canvas seems to be in 2 layers. The layer against the planking looks like typical #10 canvas I've seen before on OT canoes. But then there seems to be another layer on top with a much finer weave. Is this something that would have been done at the Old Town factory? I'm guessing that someone else put a new suit of fabric over the original canvas. They're pretty well adhered to each other -- I couldn't see any evidence of the dark green original finish -- the top finish is red and it's been painted over with still more red paint.

Looking forward to getting at the inside layers of white paint on the ribs, half-ribs, planking, thwarts, decks, rails, etc. etc!

Thanks again!

 

[Benson Gray]

The canvas seems to be in 2 layers. The layer against the planking looks like typical #10 canvas I've seen before on OT canoes. But then there seems to be another layer on top with a much finer weave. Is this something that would have been done at the Old Town factory? I'm guessing that someone else put a new suit of fabric over the original canvas.

I agree that this was probably done after it left the factory as a repair. It was not the usual procedure and your build record doesn't have any note of a non-standard canvasing or other differences. A number eight canvas was probably used originally as shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/specific.gif from a 1920s catalog. Canvas usually lasts about twenty to thirty years in normal use so neither layer may be original on your canoe. Look for extra tack holes when you remove the canvas to verify this. Good luck with the paint removal,

Benson