Old Town 5298

Pictures showing the stem profile, decks, seats, thwarts, ribs & planking pattern can all help to identify an old wooden canoe. Many people assume all old wooden canoes are Old Towns, but there were many builders back in the day. We've even seen a situation where someone had put an Old Town decal on a canoe that clearly was not an OT... So any pictures you can post will help!
 
Hope this helps, thanks
 

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Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 5298 is a 17 foot long, AA (or top) grade, HW (heavy water) model with long mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, closed double mahogany gunwales, and a lowered seat. It was built between September, 1906 and February, 1907. The original exterior paint color was dark green. It shipped on February 23rd, 1907 to Detroit, Michigan. A scan of this build record can be found below.

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/ot_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-the-wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://store.wcha.org/WCHA-New-Membership.html to donate or join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. See https://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/12320/ for a similar canoe. Does this one have the fancy spiral drops on the bow seat? Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Nice find,

Benson



5298.jpg
 
Even so, how many of them do turn out to be Old Towns?...

Quite a few, I'm sure, but this might be driven by the simple fact that there are a lot of Old Towns out there... I think tallying this through the Forum sounds like a good project for you, Dan!!! lol
 
Beautiful canoe in unusually good condition. The AA double gunnel construction, condition ,and Detroit destination makes one wonder if it came from Belle Isle. In the Great Lakes area, whenever we encounter a canoe with a four digit serial number it is usually a St. Louis. I can only remember 3 or 4 four digit OT's showing up in my shop.
 
So, Skipper....What a boat ! WOW. A restorer's dream in that condition. I have a 16 foota Ideal No. 8992 shipped 7/28/08 and it restored beautifully. All it lacks is the original Old Town decal apparently used for only the 08 built boats. The 08 decal used a very nice red where you have the blue. Much of the gold border and scroll design was done in gold leaf with added black lines for additional detail within. I suspect your version used gold leaf as well. I could not preserve mine and have lamented its loss ever since. And so , I advise, if you are of the same mind as regards originality you should take every precaution to safeguard your fine example...a treasure, I think. My boat has the spiral drops as well and they are a very pretty add . The boat was ordered with open gunnels , a departure from the usual closed
design, the norm at the time. We will wait with baited breath for the restoration pics. HAVE FUN, you are one lucky fella. Dave
 
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