I just got an Old Town ??? for a good price and don’t have any idea what model it is. It’s fiberglass, has plastic molded seats and the seller said it’s 18’ long… but I don’t know how to properly measure it to get it’s “real” length.
Any way of telling the model by serial number? it starts out XTC…
If not, how can I tell what model it is?
Call or write to Old Town
– Last Updated: Jul-03-08 3:11 PM EST –
Of all the "major" canoe manufacturerers commonly discussed here, Old Town is one of the few that are "commonly" described as being known for answering questions in a timely manner. I bet they will tell you what model boat you have if you tell them the serial number.
I tend to doubt that it's a fiberglass canoe if it has plastic seats that are molded to the hull. I suspect it's some kind of polyethylene to have that kind of seat construction, but I've been wrong before. Does the boat "weigh a ton", or is it pretty light? A decent fiberglass boat is MUCH lighter than a polyethylene boat. As a very rough guess, I'd imagine a decent 18-foot fiberglass canoe might weigh 60 to 70 pounds, while a poly boat at that length could easily weigh more than 90.
Oh, as far as measuring the "real length", just use a tape measure and figure out the straight-line distance from one end of the hull to the other.
It’s probably 17’8"
WCHA.org
Check out these guys:
http://www.wcha.org/
They can look up serial numbers and/or point you to the right points of contact…
Jay
Wheres the wood?
There are a couple of WCHA OT gurus and they can get a build record…but a fiberglass boat might be a little out of line.
Call Old Town.
WCHA has OT data
McCrae found the original bill of sale and a repair record for the Chipewan, and I think he did it at WCHA site. The Chipewan was a 1974 Royalex boat, so WCHA has the records for non-wood boats, too. But there is a limitation. The records stop at some point as you come forward towards present day, so if the boat is too new, WCHA will be of no use. Usually, the year made is two digits in OT serial numbers. If it will help, PM me and I’ll go look at my boats and figure out which digits. Either the first two or the last two.
I agree, though, that the easiest thing to do is call OT, and they can probably tell you what you have.
~~Chip
It is fiberlass for sure
It is certainly fiberglass… unless it’s Kevlar… and I know it isn’t that! You can clearly see the woven fberglass cloth on the floor of the canoe. I’d go take some pics, but we are having a wicked thunderstorm now…
My boss has a Stillwater 16’ and this is longer and a bit different in design/look then his. It does have a keel like the Stillwater though.
and Benson Gray is
going soon to the WCHA Assembly and might not be around for awhile…he is the ID guy.
Try WCHA anyway
Dan and Mike at WCHA also do build record searches and will give you a quick answer, if they have the info. I’m not sure they have it for the fiberglass canoes, though. Can’t hurt to ask.
Tell Mike you’ve got a wooden canoe to sell him cheap; see if you can get him in mooore trouble with his wife!
Alan