Sawyer Canoe Serial Numbers

quote Banksiana: 'Sawyer 220, also called Sawyer Cruiser. A nice fast tandem with surprising capabilities in waves. Great boat.'
To the best of my knowledge, the 'Classic' Sawyer 'Cruiser' @ 17' 9' was never called the '220 Cruiser'. You might be confusing the naming moniker with the '222 Cruiser', but that canoe was not available until 1985. The canoe in question, is clearly a 1980, 17' 9' Sawyer 'Cruiser', simply known as the 'Cruiser'. I've owned three of them and have sold several dozen Sawyer 'Cruisers' when I worked at 'The Pack Shop', and later at 'Rutabaga'. (I still own a 1985 Expedition Kevlar Cruiser in mint condition.)
The model name of the Sawyer '222 Cruiser' was derived from it's length in inches, (i.e., 18.5' = 222 inches). In 1985, Sawyer also released the '190 Cruiser' @ 15' 10', or 190 inches. Although, the scanned catalog pages below indicate the '190 Cruiser' at 15' 9', later catalogs listed the '190' at 15' 10'. (I'm not sure if the listed dimensions below for the '190' Cruiser' was a misprint, or if Sawyer added an inch in the later catalog specifications so that their math came out correctly.)
Nonetheless, if you were to apply the naming designations that Sawyer used for the '222 Cruiser' and the '190 Cruiser', the original 'Cruiser' would have been a '213 Cruiser'. (That moniker was NEVER applied to the original 17' 9' Cruiser though.)
I must also take exception to the original 'Cruiser's' performance in waves. Although it's a fast canoe with great secondary stability and very seaworthy, the sharp entry lines of the 17' 9' 'Cruiser' tends to 'slice' through large oncoming waves and drop a lot of water in the bow paddler's lap. (This is why I eventually purchased a Wenonah 'Odyssey' after several wet rides across Pickerel Lake, Basswood Lake, and 'Big Sag', just to name a few.)
The Wenonah 'Odyssey', with its deeper bow and flare, tends to ride over waves vs. cutting through the waves like the lower volume, sharp bowed Sawyer 'Cruiser'. Although the 'Cruiser is fast, it tends to slow considerably in shallow water.
The '222 Cruiser' on the other hand, was designed as a big water tripper, was very seaworthy, and handled 'big water' quite well. The '222' was designed to compete against other 18.5' tripping canoes at the time, like the Wenonah 'Odyssey', 'Whitewater X', and the Mad River 'TW Special' @ 18' 4.5'. (The '222 Cruiser was a Dave Yost design, and compares more closely to Bell's 'Northwoods', also a Yost design.) The 'classic' Sawyer 'Cruiser' was a Lynn Tuttle design.
I've scanned a few pages from Sawyer's 1985 catalog listing the three 'Cruiser' models and their dimensions. (I apologize for splitting the pages, but my scanner could not accommodate the catalog spread out in one scan.) I've also included some pics from some earlier Quetico, BWCAW, and Wisconsin River trips.
Hans Solo