OT Guide 20' S/N 120253

Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 120253 is a 20 foot long Guide's model with white Maine cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, half ribs, a keel, and sponsons. It was built between January and May, 1937. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on May 25th, 1937 to Patten, Maine. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

120253.jpg

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 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. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson
 
Yes, this matches the boat quite well. The gunwales are now mahogany (outside) and ash (inside) so it has been rebuilt at some point. The boat has been fiberglassed and I see no evidence of a keel. I had to look up what a sponson is, and I see nothing like this on the boat. I'd be curious to see a picture of what these looked like originally. Seats and gunwales appear to be the original ash. The cedar planking and ribs are all in good shape, and seem to be original.

I am a new member and would like to see this boat go to someone who could restore it. We love paddling in it but it's getting too heavy for me to lug around. I will likely post it for sale here at some point.

Bob Seymour
 
See https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/10219/ and https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/12416/ for some pictures of similar canoes with sponsons. There will probably be rows of screw holes in the ribs along the sides that will show from the inside if they were removed. The screw holes for the keel may also show along the center line in the bottom of the canoe. The classifieds at http://www.wcha.org/classifieds are usually the best way to find a good new home for a canoe like this. The information at https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/57/ may help you price it. The next few months are usually a good time to sell a canoe. Good luck,

Benson
 
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