Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 47994 is an 18 foot long canoe with closed gunwales and short decks that shipped to New York so that isn't a good match with the canoe in your picture. My guess is that you may have the one with serial number 147994. This is a 17 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Otca model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, half ribs, and a keel. It was built between March and May, 1947. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on May 21st, 1947 to Fremont, Michigan.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 138510 is a 16 foot long, CS grade, Yankee model with open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, and a keel. It was built between September and December, 1943. The original exterior paint color was light Yale blue. It shipped on May 6th, 1944 to Toledo, Ohio.
Scans of these build records can be found below. These scans 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. 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 these descriptions don't match your canoes. The suggestions at the link below may help you confirm the serial numbers. Please provide pictures of the numbers from each end with the surrounding areas if you still aren't sure. A confirmation of the extreme overall length in a straight line can also help. Canoes with a family connection are always extra special. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Thanks,
Benson
Many old wooden canoes and boats have a serial number on both inside stems and a decal or tag with the manufacturer's logo on the bow deck. The number is usually stamped on the top of the lower part of the stems. The inside stems are the long curved pieces of wood that form the ends of the canoe. You want to look on the part that extends out from under the decks on the bottom of the floor inside the hull. The serial numbers are stamped in each end of the canoe so check both if a single digit is not clear. These numbers in the stern of boats are occasionally on the edge of the center...
