Possible Kennebec Canoe

Sue Thurston

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I have a canoe which was my husband's and he believed it to be a Kennebec. He tried to find information on it in the late 1970's but was unable to find anything at that time. The canoe has the number 17295 on both stems. Can you tell me anything about it?
Thanks,
Sue
 
The Kennebec canoe with serial number 17295 is shown twice on pages 184 and 244 of volume three in the Kennebec ledgers. This was assigned to 16 foot long Kennebec sponson model type A. It was planked by Roy on August 11th, 1923. The sponsons may have been tagged with number 3144 and attached by Anderson(?) on July 19th, 1924. The canvas covering was applied by Tuttle on August 18th, 1923. The first filler coat was applied by Grant on the same day. The second filler coat was applied by Tuttle on August 23rd, 1924. The rails were installed by Ames on August 30th, 1924. The original paint color was red. It shipped on April 17th, 1925 to location "25-173". This location is probably an order number but we don't currently have enough information to identify it.

The scans of this build record can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below and in the previous response at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?5142 for number 17298. The information for number 17296 at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?8274 may also interest you. These original Kennebec records are reproduced through the courtesy of the Maine State Museum.

The microfilms and scans of these records were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA). I hope that you will renew your membership or contribute to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to renew.

More information about this and other Kennebec models can be found in the Kennebec catalogs contained on the Historic Wood Canoe and Boat Company Catalog Collection CDs available from http://store.wcha.org/The-Historic-...pany-Catalog-Collection-Version-2-CD-ROM.html in the WCHA store. It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Benson
 

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088.jpg088.jpgThe information you gave me is for a sponson canoe and mine is not a sponson. I checked to make sure I had the correct serial number and it is definitely 17295. Could it be from a different manufacturer?
Thanks,
Sue
 
Hi Sue,

I looks as though it has had a fair bit of work done on it. I am guessing that the sponsons were removed at some point. If you look in the interior, a dead give away would be screw holes in the ribs, 2 per rib, every other rib or so. It also looks like it may have fiberglass on it as well.

HTH.
 
Hi Mark,

Thanks for the info. I will take a look and see if I can see any screw holes. Maybe the sponsons were removed before my husband got it. I can't get to it at the moment or I would go look right now. I helped re-canvas the canoe in 1989, so I know there is no fiberglass however.

Sue
 
The information you gave me is for a sponson canoe and mine is not a sponson. I checked to make sure I had the correct serial number and it is definitely 17295. Could it be from a different manufacturer?

It could be from a different manufacturer or the sponsons could have been removed as Mark suggested. The Old Town canoe with this serial number is 17 feet long and shipped to Ohio in 1911. The Carleton was the same length and shipped to New York City in 1923. What is the extreme overall length of your canoe (in a straight line)? Can you attach any more pictures of this canoe to help identify it by showing the serial numbers from each end, the entire bow deck area, the interior, and anything else that might help identify it? Thanks,

Benson
 
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Wooden Canoe 002.jpgWooden Canoe 003.jpgWooden Canoe 005.jpgWooden Canoe 006.jpgWooden Canoe 008.jpgThe canoe is 17 feet long and we could not find any evidence of screw holes where a sponson may have been attached. I am attaching more pictures.
Thanks,
Sue
 

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My guess is that you have the Old Town canoe with serial number 17295. This is a 17 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, Charles River model with red western cedar planking, closed spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, spruce finish rails, a keel, a middle thwart, a two flag pole sockets, and shipped with 25 catalogs. It was built between March and May, 1911. The original exterior paint color was dark red with the name "Wenonah" on the right and left sides of the bow. It shipped on June 5th, 1911 to Toledo, Ohio. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link at the attached thumbnail image below.

This scan and several hundred thousand others 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/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will 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.

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

Benson
 

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