New owner Old Town sailing canoe
- Thread starter nmerrill
- Start date
Ric Altfather
WCHA #4035
Ot 134121 - 18
Nat,
The canoe you inquire about was shipped on June 19, 1942 to Lake George, NY., as an 18' square stern, model "paddling" in CS (common sense) grade. It was ordered with spruce gunwales, ash decks, thwarts and seats with keel and sponsons. The original color was Dark Green. If it has a sail rig on it, that was added later. A build record is attached. Yes, please join the WCHA to help support this service and many others which will help in your resporation project.
Regards,
Ric Altfather
Nat,
The canoe you inquire about was shipped on June 19, 1942 to Lake George, NY., as an 18' square stern, model "paddling" in CS (common sense) grade. It was ordered with spruce gunwales, ash decks, thwarts and seats with keel and sponsons. The original color was Dark Green. If it has a sail rig on it, that was added later. A build record is attached. Yes, please join the WCHA to help support this service and many others which will help in your resporation project.
Regards,
Ric Altfather
Attachments
Thanks for the info!
It is a bit of a surprise though. I was given a letter (with the boat) from Old Town dated 1979 indicating the boat was a 1924 Guide Special sailing canoe origninally shipped to St John (NF). The owner at the time was Jack Prendergast (sp?) in NY. Unfortunately, the serial number of the boat in question was not in the written letter, but in pencil at the bottom of the page. I assume that someone confused this boat with another. I was told that Jack had donated other boats to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Lake. Any idea if this is true? If so, i may have documents that belong to it!
Thanks again.
P.S. is "Paddling" a model or just a descritive? This seems like a mightly heavy boat for paddling! Though i think the canvas is wet...
Nat
It is a bit of a surprise though. I was given a letter (with the boat) from Old Town dated 1979 indicating the boat was a 1924 Guide Special sailing canoe origninally shipped to St John (NF). The owner at the time was Jack Prendergast (sp?) in NY. Unfortunately, the serial number of the boat in question was not in the written letter, but in pencil at the bottom of the page. I assume that someone confused this boat with another. I was told that Jack had donated other boats to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Lake. Any idea if this is true? If so, i may have documents that belong to it!
Thanks again.
P.S. is "Paddling" a model or just a descritive? This seems like a mightly heavy boat for paddling! Though i think the canvas is wet...
Nat
Ric Altfather
WCHA #4035
Nat,
Double check the SN to make sure it matches the build record that I sent. If this is the canoe, the back side does reference J.F. Prendergast from New York with a date of 7/14/1980. A copy is attached but no further info. One possibility is that J.F. had the canoe outfitted with a sailing rig in 1980? The term "paddling" is somewhat considered to be a model and in this case because it is spelled out versus the abbreviation of "PA" I would say this is true. Old Town sold canoes as "square end paddling" which appear in other build records as well. Hope this helps, maybe Benson or Dan can offer additional advise.
Ric
Double check the SN to make sure it matches the build record that I sent. If this is the canoe, the back side does reference J.F. Prendergast from New York with a date of 7/14/1980. A copy is attached but no further info. One possibility is that J.F. had the canoe outfitted with a sailing rig in 1980? The term "paddling" is somewhat considered to be a model and in this case because it is spelled out versus the abbreviation of "PA" I would say this is true. Old Town sold canoes as "square end paddling" which appear in other build records as well. Hope this helps, maybe Benson or Dan can offer additional advise.
Ric
Attachments
AH, interesting that Jack is on that build record too.
The number matches the build card, as does the square end, dark green color and sponsons. The person I got the Canoe from indicated that he had worked for Mr. Prendergast and got the boat from him. Jack Prendergast apparently lived(s?) (had property?) on Elizabeth Island in Lake George. He told me that Jack had donated other boats to the museum, which leads me to think that he had other boats, at least. I don't know about the museum donations. I am guessing that this boat was confused with another at some time, and thus the paperwork switch. The penciled SN on the bottom of the Old Town letter looks as old as the paper though...
Where Jack's 1924 guide special sail canoe is now may never be known....
Thanks for the further research!
The number matches the build card, as does the square end, dark green color and sponsons. The person I got the Canoe from indicated that he had worked for Mr. Prendergast and got the boat from him. Jack Prendergast apparently lived(s?) (had property?) on Elizabeth Island in Lake George. He told me that Jack had donated other boats to the museum, which leads me to think that he had other boats, at least. I don't know about the museum donations. I am guessing that this boat was confused with another at some time, and thus the paperwork switch. The penciled SN on the bottom of the Old Town letter looks as old as the paper though...
Where Jack's 1924 guide special sail canoe is now may never be known....
Thanks for the further research!
