Old Town serial number

[Niobrara]

103815 16
This canoe belonged to my grandfather. I am told he bought it in California during his service in the Navy, 50's probably. Center thwart has a hole that excepted a mast for sailing, now missing. I am in the process of striping it for restoration including replacing several ribs. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this service and any advice that could help me get this beautiful vessel sailing again.

Niobrara

 

[pklonowski]

Hello, and welcome to the forums!

"The Bible of wood/canvas canoe restoration" is this book, available at the WCHA store, Amazon.com, maybe your local library, and shows up on eBay at times:
http://woodencanoe.org/catalog/prod...d=418&osCsid=465a6c5d56c748622345df505954da57

You'll find unending support here on the forums, and if you live around a local chapter, you may very well find hands-on support, & maybe even some hands-on help! Local chapter contact info is available here: http://www.wcha.org/chapters.php

And post pictures, too... we like pictures! Just use the "Manage Attachment" button (seen below the Reply screen when you're writing a reply), but note the file size limits.

Pictures help people see exactly what you're looking at, to help assess issues & make recommendations for repairs. We also just like pictures of canoes...

 

[Benson Gray]

The Old Town canoe with serial number 103815 is a 16 foot long, CS (common sense or middle) grade, HW (heavy water) model with red western cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, a keel, outside stems, sponsons, mast seat, step, and rudder for a sailing rig. It was built between November, 1929 and February, 1930. The original exterior paint was similar to the one shown at http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design31.gif which was know as the design number 31. It shipped on February 20th, 1930 to Los Angeles, Calif. 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. 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/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and http://www.wcha.org/join.php to join.

It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. See http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=969 and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=4107 for more information about Old Town's canoe sailing rigs. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions. Good luck with the restoration.

Benson

 

[Niobrara]

Thank you

that was lightning speed and very informational. will be hearing from me as I move forward.
thanks, Niobrara