1930's or 40's Old Town Sail Canoe

[Michael Graessle]

I recently inherited my father’s canoe. I believe it is a 1930’s or 40’s Old Town sailing canoe. I found some numbers in the bow and stern inside on the stern strip: 8115 16. Can this identify the canoe? I am in the process of learning how to recanvas the canoe. It was “restored” in the early 90’s, but it was a poor attempt. Thank you in advance for any and all assistance.

Michael

 

[MGC]

Hello Michael,

You have landed on a great site. Folks here will help you ID your canoe and give you advice and encouragement as you restore it.

The numbers that you provided for the boat are not those that would be associated with a 1930'3/40's Old Town. More likely this is a boat from another builder. Photo's would be really helpful to assist in the identification. I always ask for photo's of decks, stems, thwarts, ribs and planking etc...the whole jammy as it were.

You can also learn quite a bit on the Dragonfly Canoe Works site. Dan Miller has a very helpful compilation of decks there.

 

[pklonowski]

There also could be a couple of numbers that are hard to read... if, for instance, the full serial number is actually 138115 16, or 148115 16, this would put it into the 30s-40s bracket. The numbers should be on both stems -- take a look, sometimes different parts are illegible on opposite ends of the canoe, and you can then distinguish the full set of digits.

And pictures are always helpful...

 

[Benson Gray]

A four digit serial number is too low for an Old Town from the 1930s or 1940s as others have mentioned. The charts at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/oldtown_chart.html show this in more detail. The Old Town with number 8115 was 17 feet long and shipped in 1908 without a sail rig as shown below. Can you confirm the overall length of your canoe and provide some pictures of the serial numbers from each end? Thanks,

Benson

 

[Michael Graessle]

It has been a few years to say the last wrote, but I am getting much closer to restoring my canoe. I looked at the serial number again, it is 84115 16. I confirmed the length is 16'. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated, I am in the beginning stages of reading and planning. I think I have good grasp of materials I will need. I have included a photo of the stern serial.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 84115 is a 16 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Otca model with red western cedar planking, open mahogany gunwales, mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, and a floor rack. It was built between March, 1924 and May, 1925. The original exterior paint was dark green. It shipped on June 25th, 1925 to Peekskill, New York. 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. 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 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 the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration,

Benson

 

[Michael Graessle]

Benson,

Thank you so much for the information. I am very grateful for all of support you have given the community and the preservation of all the build records. I have already begun to reach out in the forums for advice. I will be beginning in the next couple weeks.