New owner of 03 SANTE. Share your knowledge

[Bimmerboyz]

Let me know what you feel a new owner should know about their 03 SANTE. I owned a 1978 Correct Craft Ski Nautique for the last 3 years so this is quite a different boat.

Tricks for best wake for boarding, surfing.

Best upgrades for the stock ballast.

Any upgrade or changes I need to make.

Best stereo upgrades.

Best detailing products for interior and exterior.

The boat only has 380 hours. I only have one picture as it needs two days of detailing.

I took the boat out for only an hour before I bought it, so I am a newby.

[NautiqueJeff]

2003 is one of the best years. You'll love it. Looks like a great color combination.

Here are a couple of useful threads related to the 2003 SAN. I did both of these to the 2003 that I had.

http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...-Clarion-XMD-1

http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...es-(Except-226)

[gride300]

very nice looking boat. a few things to note:
1. if you ever have trouble with your ballast valves there was a recall. it may or may not have already been done before.
2. for a huge wake put about 1000 in the bow, and a wedge sac on top of each tank in the rear. you can plumb them in easily by rerouting the overflow hose to the lower end of the sac and then having overflow come out the top. get fittings from buywake.com if you want more info on that search or pm me.
3. the stock speakers in the boat are nice and so is the amp. if you want to upgrade go with wetsounds. the 420 is a nice piece without breaking the bank.
4. 303 is the best protecter product. just use proper vinyl cleaner beforehand. 3m makes good wax/restorer wax
5. print out the parts manual from pleasurecraft.com and the owners manual from here
6. use shell rotella 15w40 for oil

[cain0725]

awsome boat, love the cover

that cover is rocking,, love the boat,, have fun and take your time learning the boat,,

[gride300]

also a good idea to program a second code using totally different buttons incase you have button failure on the water.

[Bimmerboyz]

Is there a manual I can download or buy?

[TRIP]

Sweet boat, I dig the colors! Python powered?
Congrats!

[gride300]

on the home page of this site you can find owners manual and on pleasurecraft.com you can find parts manual. both are very helpful

[Bimmerboyz]

Sweet boat, I dig the colors! Python powered?
Congrats!

In my wet dream. I have looked for the last year and a half for a Python powered SAN (with the right colors) with no luck. I gave up and bought this.

Is there any upgrades for the engine that are worth it?

[core-rider]

Here is a walk-through for adding ballast if you want to. This keeps the factory components and just adds ballast on top of factory. http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...-2003-up-SANTE
If you add a good bit more ballast upgrade to an ACME 1464 prop. With the Excaliber engine and this prop it will be the best $400 you spend. No need to add any more power to the engine.
Go here and buy some of their upholstery cleaner... http://stores.ebay.com/Ace-Detail-Supplies
Then follow that up with 303 Protectant to help keep it clean and in good condition.
If the boat doesn't already have some non-slip traction on the gunwells and along the transom... http://wakejunky.com/
I'm not going to force you any direction on stereo products, but the factory system is okay. Definately get the sub out of the passenger side storage and the factory sub will sound much better. If you do upgrade, get some better in-boat speakers and mount them on the outside instead on behind like the factory. Tower speaker choices are everywhere... Get a budget and go from there is all I can say.

Good looking boat! Congrats on the purchase and enjoy.

[thedude]

Sweet boat man! In addition to what was said above, I'd get some removable mud flaps for that truck. You don't want those 37's spraying rocks all over that boat!

Check in the DIY section about the walters V-drive oil pan gasket. They are known to leak so keep an eye on your V-drive oil level, check it every 10 hrs of use. Maybe replace the gasket with a better material if you have a spare couple of hours. I did mine and haven't lost a drop of V-drive oil yet this year.

With a single axle trailer (or any trailer) keep up on your trailer maintenence!

Also, the keypad has been known to burn out, just keep that in mind.

[jimmyj]

new prop. more weight.

put about 250-350 lead in the nose depending on how she wants it. (lead so you dont have a bag in the way all the time - u can cut out the fiberglass coolers to hide more or additional weight, bags etc. realistically, you will not use these. well, EVERYBODY i know does not. they are inconvienient) all of them are a bit different. 1000 is WAY overkill on anyone i have even been in, unless you want to sink it and or have a very rounded if not washy wake.

take the back tanks out. plumb in 400s or 750s. you can have 400s or 7s juiced to the max in there and have 3x more storage than with the stock wedge plastic tanks. terrible idea IMO. then if you have 10-12 people and dont want to juice it, you have even more storage. with those wedge tanks, you can get about 2 vests in each locker, maybe a throw cushion regardless whether there is water in there or not.

NEW PROP. yes, this is repeat, but its probably the main ingredient to making that boat pull like a world class machine. the stock TEAM prop is pretty garbage once you get any kindof weight in there at all.

[RainDog]

Zcare MVP is the best stuff I've found for cleaning vinyl (vs. Meguiars, 303 cleaner, Simple Green, etc) and it is(was) manufactured by GT, the supplier of vinyl to Correct Craft. When my 2002 SAN made the trek from California to Wisconsin, it was drug through lots of rain and was filthy. Zcare really got the grime out, especially on the thread stitching. A soft scrub brush also helps clean grimy upholstery.

Always follow up with 303 Aerospace protectant. Always.

I use 3M rubbing compound, FinesseIt and ProtectIt for rubbing and polishing. I switched to Collonite for wax this year.

Black is a bitch to keep looking good, but the effort is worth it. Is your deck black or white?

[obd666]

nice

sweet boat, i think you'll enjoy it ... i have absolutely loved my 03. - for wakeboarding anything 21.5 or higher throws a very clean edge, have fun

[Bimmerboyz]

Sweet boat man! In addition to what was said above, I'd get some removable mud flaps for that truck. You don't want those 37's spraying rocks all over that boat!

.

41's
I have some but the hitch that I used for my old boat was too low and the other hitch didn't have a long enough insert for the lock pin to work.