2000-01 SAN or 2002-05 SAN

[jslow68]

I sold my boat and I was orginally looking at 2002-2005 SAN. As I have been looking I am seeing quite a few 2000-01 SAN at some good prices.
From what I have gathered the 2000-01 do not have the 3rd ballast tank. Is there anything else that is doesn't have compared to the newer models?
How hard would it be to plumb in a 3rd ballast?

[NautiqueJeff]

They will have the Ford GT-40 Engine prior to mid-2002. After that, the base engine is the Excalibur.

[jimmyj]

prefer my 01 over any other year. just me. wide gunnels are best.

ballast are not hard to plumb. couple hundred bucks and a day of cussing. bout it.

keep in mind that with a newer one, you have roughly 300 in the belly. i have a 750 in the belly in my 01.

same with hard tanks in the back.. roughly 275 each i believe. i have 400s on each side. the hard tanks are in the old and new tho, so youll have to repalce them regardless as long as it has the plastic tanks in place already. this is all if you want to of course.

2000s have the 1 piece sunpad. a deal breaker if you ask me. a major PITA if you have people on it and want to get to a life jacket, or anything else you have stored.

[ryjam]

I have a pretty nice 01 Sante if your interested...you pretty much wont have to touch it take a look

[shonuff]

2002 is when they redesigned the deck and made the interior more spacious. The seating capacity went from 9 to 10. For that reason alone I only looked at '02+ models when I was shopping for a SANTE.

[seth]

I prefer my 01 as well. The ski locker is bigger because they dropped the floor in 02, so you can get more weight in there. It also doesnt have the cooler in the bow which you have to cut out to put a sac under the seats in the bow. I think the slanted transom is much more comfortable than the straight when leaning back sitting on the swim step.

[crobi2]

I like the one piece sun deck on the 2000. No knee busters and when you're working on the engine you just open that thing up and have all of the room in the world. With big sacs in the back, there's no room for storage there anyway.

The wide gunwales on the 2000 and 2001 are also nice in that they strengthen the boat and give a wide platform to walk on. They decrease the inside space though, and the use of the side space for cupholders in the 2002 and newer boats is nice.

I guess the slanted back on the transom doesn't matter because when the sacs are full the swim platform is underwater and you have to stand on your board to keep it from floating off anyway.

I love the torque of the 5.8 GT 40. Truly a pleasure to drive.