Old Town Wooden Canoe Production
Estimates by Model

The discovery of an old wooden canoe frequently leads to a question about how many of this model were made. The top twenty five most popular wooden canoe models from the Old Town Canoe Company are listed below. These estimated totals are based on the information from the WCHA's Build Record Archive Project. These records are only from 1905 to 1979 so information before and after those dates could not be included easily.

Some interesting changes in the economics of canoe production are shown by this analysis. There were an estimated 4646 examples of the eighteen foot Charles River model built in the twenty two years between 1906 and 1927 with an average of 211 per year. There were an estimated 4107 examples of the sixteen foot FG (fiberglass) model built in the ten years between 1966 and 1975 with an average of 411 per year. There were an estimated 5415 examples of the sixteen foot ABS plastic Chipewyan model built in the four years between 1972 and 1975 with an average of 1354 per year. More information about the Archive Project can be found at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/records/.

The news release from the Old Town Canoe Company about their millionth canoe offers some additional perspectives comparing canoe and kayak production. Old Town issued about 95,000 serial numbers in the 23 years between 1906 and 1929. This represents about 4,130 wooden canoes per year. It took about 45 years to issue the next 100,000 serial numbers. This was a mixture of canoes and boats in wood and plastics averaging about 2,222 units per year. They issued serial number 500,000 in 1995. These were primarily plastic canoes averaging 14,286 per year. Their millionth serial number was issued in 2003. They are focused on plastic kayaks now and this represents an average of 62,500 per year.

Old Town Wooden Canoe Production Estimates Between 1905 and 1979 by Model
Rank Model Name Length
in Feet		 Estimated
Production		 Oldest
Database Entry		 Newest
Database Entry		 Elapsed
Years		 Average
per Year
1 HW (Heavy Water) 17 15277 1905 1956 52 294
2 HW (Heavy Water) 16 14428 1905 1955 51 283
3 Yankee 16 13330 1921 1957 37 360
4 Otca 17 12527 1911 1972 62 202
5 Otca 16 9762 1909 1973 65 150
6 Charles River 17 9367 1905 1929 25 375
7 HW (Heavy Water) 18 9275 1905 1957 53 175
8 Charles River 16 9101 1905 1927 23 396
9 Guide's Special 18 7905 1919 1972 54 146
10 Otca 18 7776 1912 1970 59 132
11 Fifty Pound 15 6805 1911 1966 56 122
12 Charles River 18 4646 1906 1927 22 211
13 IF (Ideal Fishing) 18 4491 1908 1921 14 321
14 Ideal 17 3321 1913 1931 19 175
15 HW (Heavy Water) 15 2472 1905 1923 19 130
16 Guide's Special 20 2445 1920 1970 51 48
17 Guide's Special 16 1576 1937 1979 43 37
18 Fifty Pound 13 1447 1928 1966 39 37
19 Fifty Pound 11 939 1927 1967 41 23
20 Ideal 18 764 1911 1932 22 35
21 Ideal 16 742 1913 1923 11 67
22 Charles River 15 673 1906 1911 6 112
23 War Canoe 25 633 1913 1960 48 13
24 Livery 16 600 1913 1920 8 75
25 IF (Ideal Fishing) 20 514 1905 1923 19 27
1905 Models

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