Serial Number search

[1334165]

Sometimes lightning does strike twice in the same place.

Just scored two Old Towns, in the same pile of "scrap". Both still have their shape, though 95% of the wood is dried out but otherwise intact. Looking for any information or suggestions.

1- First one has serial#159217 18. "Plain"wood/canvas. Some body fiberglassed over the canvas, fortunately, none of it stuck to any wood

2- The other I can only read "18" so far. Need to remove some old varnish. Is is a square stern, with sponsons and complete sail rig.


Thanks,
Jim Cathcart

 

[Benson Gray]

Congratulations, you may need some varnish remover on the serial numbers in both ends of each one since the Old Town serial number 159217 went on a 13.5 foot long lapstrake boat. The information at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?791 might help. Let us know what you find. Good luck,

Benson

 

[1334165]

Congratulations, you may need some varnish remover on the serial numbers in both ends of each one since the Old Town serial number 159217 went on a 13.5 foot long lapstrake boat. The information at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?791 might help. Let us know what you find. Good luck,

Benson

Thank you for the quick reply.
After some more scraping and looking, I've found the serial number 159247 18, on both stems.

The square stern serial number appears to be 121711 18. The digits 12 711 18 are clear. The third digit "1" is a bit off/higher than the other numbers and is very lightly stamped. I have only found this number on the bow stem.

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 159247 is an 18 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, guide model with a keel. It was built between January and June, 1953. The original exterior paint color was G. S. (Guide's Special) green. It shipped on June 18th, 1953 to Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

The Old Town with serial number 121711 is an 18 foot long, CS (Common Sense or middle) grade, square end paddling model with open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash and spruce seats, a keel, outside stems, sponsons, and a rowing seat. It was built between May and July, 1937. The original exterior paint color was azure blue to match a sample that was provided. A name was painted on the right and left bow. It shipped on July, 30th, 1937 to Greenville, Maine. The back side of this record shows that it came back for repairs in October 3rd, 1946 and was returned on November 27th, 1946 to Bangor, Maine.

Scans showing all of these build records can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images 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/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will contribute, 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 also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if these descriptions doesn't match. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson

 

[1334165]

Thanks again for the fast reply.
Those are my boats.
I am dumbfounded at by how good the wood is on both boats. The 18' guide canoe would be quite functional with new canvas, varnish and a couple small repairs to the outer gunwales.

The square stern is in almost as good condition. Except for the oarlocks, all the other hardware is there including a sail rig.

Now I've got some work to do.