Double Ended Rowing Canoe

rowboat

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I have What appears to be an Old Town Double Ended Rower. The barely legible SN is 9213(?). It is 16' long 44" wide. From what I was told, it was probably delivered to the Lake George NY area.
Thanks in advance for help in solving this mystery!
 
The Old Town canoe with serial number 92136 is 16 feet long, CS (common sense) grade, DE (double ended) boat with western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, birch decks, seats, and thwarts; it was fitted with a keel, outside stems, and a floor rack. Construction began in 1926 and was finished on April 9, 1927. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It was shipped on April 18, 1927 to the warehouse of R.H. Macy and Co. (the NYC department store) in Long Island City, NY. A scan of this build record can be found by following the link behind the thumbnail image attached below. This may be it -- no other build record in the series 9213* is for a double-ended boat.

92136 - 15265.jpg

This scan and several hundred thousand others 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 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 this description doesn't match your canoe. If that is the case, photographs of the deck, side profile, seats, and other details would be helpful in identifying the canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.

Greg
 
Thanks Greg ...
Close, everything but the seats. Mine don't appear to be birch. They are some junkier wood; spruce perhaps? (They look like pine boards). They do appear to be original.

My wife says the number looks like 9283* or maybe 9233*
Could I trouble you for another look?
Thanks
 
Again thanks!
I found the remnant of the serial number under a few layers of paint. There is no hint of the length digits.
We will try a few more things to see if we can get a better idea of the number, and enough contrast to take a photo.
 
16' and birch

Again thanks!
I found the remnant of the serial number under a few layers of paint. There is no hint of the length digits.

I wouldn't worry to much about the length digits -- if it's an OT, and if you've measured the length correctly. Of course, if there were never any length digits, maybe it's not an OT. Did you look at both stems?

As to the seats -- birch can be a funny wood -- sometime it has no character at all, and sometimes it can look like other woods, especially if it has been stained, or there is old, darkened varnish on it, or . . .. Sometimes it is slow growing, with fairly close growth rings, and other times, the growth rings are wide, like a lot of soft woods. Once I saw some old birch cabinets that I would have sworn were old cherry. I'm not saying you are wrong, but I think we would like to see a close-up photo of the seats, and if I were you, I would take a second look, and maybe get another informed opinion. Age, sun, stains, old oil and/or varnish can play tricks and fool. I have been regularly going for years to the Sothebys and Christies auctions of early American furniture here in NY (to look and touch, not to buy) and am regularly fooled about what wood old furniture is made from.

Greg
 
Friends,

I've been working on my double ender. According to the build record it was constructed in 1943. It has steel tacks @#$%^&!! It appears to have been originally painted on the interior rather than varnished. I stripped and stripped and stripped trying to remove all the paint with the intent of varnishing like Dave's boat pictured above. I have given up. It will not come out completely. Every little tack dent, every joint, every crevasse is filled with paint. I have admitted defeat and I generally don't give up easy. There is no evidence of varnish anywhere under the paint so I will clean it up as best as I can, replace the broken ribs, and paint it again. If I could get paint to stick to the house as good as it did to this boat I would be a happy man. The gunwales, seats, breast hooks, seat knees, seat support rails and floor rack will be varnished. This boat is set up for sailing so the mast, leeboards & bracket as well at the rudder will also be varnished so I guess there will be enough bright work to still look good. After I made the decision to paint the interior rather than varnish the clouds parted and a great weight was lifted from my shoulders. Don't try to change my mind again - the way ahead is clear!!

Peace, Jim C.
 
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