Old town Canoe grades

Meade

Curious about Wooden Canoes
I am sure this is not a new thread but I was unable to locate what I was looking for.
How do you tell the difference in canoe grades? I have a CS grade which I assume is basic. What are the other grades and are there photos available?
Thanks,
Meade
 
The "CS" grade stood for "Common Sense" and the chart at http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/grades.jpg shows that more than half of their canoes were built this way. It was originally the middle grade between the top of the line AA grade and the no frills GS utility grade. The letters "GS" are presumed to stand for "Guides' Special." The AA grade was discontinued in the 1950s and the GS grade only lasted until the 1940s. The image attached below is the description of the top two grades from the 1935 catalog.

The obvious differences are that the AA grade usually had all mahogany rails and trim while the CS grade would have lighter colored woods. Canoes built after the grades were discontinued usually had mahogany outside gunwales and spruce inside gunwales so these will often be mistakenly identified as AA grade. See http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12320, http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?4175, and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12416 for some examples of AA grade canoes. See http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?12413 for an example of a CS grade canoe and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?3968 for a GS grade. The one at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?14682 was made well after the grades were eliminated. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson
 

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