Dan's father bought the next to last Sande Ace built in February, 1964.  Chances are good it was a special order from the Sandes because regular production had stopped.  While many of the Aces were built in mahogany, this one is all fir plywood, an economy model.  Except for the deck, where one side Philippine mahogany and half of a better grade.

Dan skiied and raced the boat around North Bay and Case Inlet.  He and his brother jumped yacht waves like the wave runners of today and took it out in very rough weather.  Dan is amazed that they survived.

The boat is a memento to Dan’s father, who died a few months after the motor was purchased.  It was sold and moved to Wenatchee where it was upholstered and got revised steering.  But it didn’t take well to being a family boat.  A few years later, it came back to Dan’s garage where it sat.  It was quite leaky, probably from a hard life being kept so dry.

The boat owes its new life to the group who have recognized that the Sande Ace is a special boat.  Thanks to the effort of Bob Parks and Tom Regan, it’s been gone through extensively.

The boat was almost ready for the Ace Rendevous in 2014 except the motor needed work.  So it was off to Shelton to see Dr. Frankenmerc (Thom Adams) who went through it fully with the parts inventory on hand to get the 1967 motor running again.

The Ace came with a used Merc 350 but in 1967 that was upgraded to a new Merc 500SS.
At that time, it was the fastest boat on North Bay, Case Inlet.  Like many of the other racers, it was run hard.





Tom Regan replaced the worn out mahogany deck
with Okoume plywood, silicon bronze screws, epoxy and oak plugs.





Nails in the chines were replaced with silicon bronze screws, along with epoxy glue.  Then came a
full cover of Dynel cloth and epoxy at Bottom Fest shown below at the Grapeview Point Boat Works!



Several coats of red mahogany stain and many coats of
Epiphanes marine varnish on the deck gave this beautiful result.



After successful sea trials in Tacoma’s Commencement Bay!  Dan is looking forward to
more runs including Ace Days, 51 years (at this writing) after it was built!