Carleton

JClearwater

Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
A friend and potential WCHA member has a real nice Carleton sailing canoe. Maybe when someone has nothing to do you can look up the build record. Serial #20008, CS grade, heart shaped decks, curved carry thwart, floor rack. Owner said it is 17'.

Thanks very much.
Jim
 
The Carleton record for serial number 20008 shows a 17 foot long Carleton model in Reg. (Regular or middle) grade with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, a keel, and a floor rack. It was built between December, 1929 and June, 1930. The original exterior paint color was maroon. It shipped on June 28th, 1930 to Butler, New Jersey. A scan showing the build record can be found 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/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 renew.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. The sail rig isn't mentioned so that was probably added after it left the factory. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson



c-20008.jpg
 
Benson,

Thank you very much. I will pass on the build sheet on to the owner.

The canoe has pressed in, machine woven cane on the seats. At what point did Old Town stop using hand woven seats in favor of the pressed in style? I know it had something to do with the switch from paying workers 'piece work' to an hourly wage. The bow seat is made with a brass ring in a wider frame as a mast support so I presume it is not the original seat because the sail rig is not mentioned on the build record. Secondly, the base of the mast is tapered and round at the bottom rather than having a square base which is more often encountered. At what point did Old Town switch from the round bottom to the square bottom?

Many thanks for your endless work responding to serial number requests.

Jim
 
My understanding is that machine woven cane on the seats was a result of the introduction of the minimum wage law in 1938 as described at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?891&p=56393#post56393 and my more recent observations of the seats in canoes from around this time seems to confirm this.

I don't know exactly when they changed from round to the square holes in mast steps. The canoe at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=6475&d=1226605573 from 1927 has a factory step with a round hole and the one at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=4224&d=1204470667 from 1936 has square ones. The catalog pictures of the sailing rig changed between 1931 and 1932 as shown at http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/4107/ so this may be when the mast step changed as well.

Let me know if this doesn't answer your questions. Thanks,

Benson
 
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