Two Old Town Canoes

[Al Rondina]

We have two Old Town Canoes in the shop at Calvert Marine Museum.

The first is Ser. No 16-17323. It has several features to it which we are not sure is original. It has a heart shaped stern deck, rub rails that have no taper towards the ends, two thwarts that are straight vs shaped, and only one lifting handle at the bow (with no attachment holes at the stern for one). photo's attached.

The other is Ser. No. 17-91592.

Thanks for your help,

Al

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town and Carleton canoes with serial number 17323 are both 17 feet long as shown in the records below so neither of those match your canoe. My guess is that you have the Kennebec canoe with this number, especially since there appears to be a faint outline of a Kennebec decal on the deck. This is 16 foot long Kennebec model as shown on page 184 of volume three in the Kennebec ledgers. It was planked by Roy on August 25th, 1923. The canvas covering was applied by Tuttle on September 8th, 1923. Grant applied the first filler coat on the same day. Tuttle applied the second filler coat on September 29th, 1923. It was railed by Webber on the same day. The original color was red. It shipped to location 25-94 on May, 20th, 1925. This location is probably an order number but we don't currently have enough information to identify it.

The scans of these build records can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below. These original Kennebec records are reproduced through the courtesy of the Maine State Museum.

The Old Town canoe with serial number 91592 is a 17 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Otca model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, birch thwarts, birch seats, and a keel. It was built between July, 1926 and March, 1927. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on May 26th, 1927 to Middletown, Delaware. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

The microfilms and scans of these records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. 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 possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if these descriptions don't match your canoes. The bow deck, carry handle, and straight thwarts in the Kennebec all appear to be replacements. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[MGC]

We have two Old Town Canoes in the shop at Calvert Marine Museum.

The first is Ser. No 16-17323. It has several features to it which we are not sure is original. It has a heart shaped stern deck, rub rails that have no taper towards the ends, two thwarts that are straight vs shaped, and only one lifting handle at the bow (with no attachment holes at the stern for one). photo's attached.
Al

Al,

It seems unlikely (to me) that SN 17323 is an Old Town. From the photo's posted it appears that the heart shaped deck is original to the canoe and not a replacement. You can also see (but not clearly) that there is (or was) a round decal on that deck. Old Town did not use a round decal. I would be inclined to guess that this is a Kennebec but I am wrong more often than not.

It is possible that the thwarts are replacements.
Could you post additional pictures including a better close up of the deck and decal?

Mike

Refer to Benson's post. He notes the details related to the SN for the Kennebec. He posted while I was typing.

 

[Al Rondina]

Thank you for the info. It makes sense the one canoe is a Kennebec given the number of design differences from Old Town.

Al

 

[mccloud]

I visited the boat shop at the Calvert Marine Museum today and saw these two canoes. 17323 looks like a Kennebec, and has been nicely restored. It has an oval brass tag on the stern deck which reads 17323, and nothing else on the tag. 17323 is also stamped into the stem. It has mahogany outwales. Would these have been original?

The other canoe is an Old Town, probably OTCA, and I read 97592-17, but I could be wrong. I has not yet been restored, but aside from a little stem tip rot on one end and one cracked rib, it is in good shape. Tom McCloud

 

[Benson Gray]

It has mahogany outwales. Would these have been original?

The Kennebec build record for this canoe clearly shows it as a type "A" which would have had spruce outwales. Their models 2A and 3A had mahogany wales and longer decks. My guess is that the original spruce outwales were replaced during the restoration.

The Old Town canoe with serial number 97592 is a 16 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Yankee model with open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, and a floor rack. It was built between February and May, 1928. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on July 19th, 1928 to Boston, Mass. A scan showing this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image 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/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 renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. My guess is that 91592 is probably the correct serial number since the length doesn't match and this Yankee would have the more typical short Old Town decks rather than the longer decks of an Otca. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,

Benson