Old Town 199018

[Chris Gorman]

Hey folks,
My wife's uncle just handed his canoe down to us and I'd love to find out more about it. He thinks he bought it new in 1972 (give or take a year) and based off the balsa sandwich, I'm guessing its a Carleton. It is 16', as far ask he knows. The serial number is 199018.
Thanks so much for any info. I was a guide here in Eastern Canada many years ago and got away from paddling, but this boat is gonna get me back on the water and I couldn't be more excited.

 

[Benson Gray]

Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 199018 is an 16 foot long fiberglass Carleton model with a keel that weighed 84 pounds. It was built in January, 1974. The original exterior gelcoat color was dark green. It shipped on April 27th, 1976 to Newbury, Massachusetts. The back side of the record indicates that there was a hair line crack in the gelcoat on the bow end. Scans showing both sides of this build record can be found below.

These scans and several hundred thousand more 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 http://www.wcha.org/about-wcha to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/store/membership to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. More information about this canoe is available from http://www.wcha.org/store/complete-old-town-canoe-company-catalog-collection in the scanned catalogs from the 1970s. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions,

Benson

 

[Chris Gorman]

That is awesome, thanks so much! I haven't seen the canoe yet in person to take a close look but do you imagine that hairline crack was repaired before it was originally sold to her uncle?

 

[Benson Gray]

do you imagine that hairline crack was repaired before it was originally sold

No, probably not, the "#2 per Donnie" on the back indicates that the shipping department manager decided that it could be sold at a discount due to that flaw. The crack may still be there.

Benson