2003 SAN Front cooler

[G]

I thought I saw a post on cutting out the front cooler on a SAN to put a sack in the front. Can someone help me find it if it was on here. Thanks......

[C.A.]

I searched and couldn't find a post when I did mine a few months ago (2004 210).....

I used an air-powered die grinder. It was no easy job, mostly because of the limited amount of space. I believe I started on the inside of the cooler with a cut-off wheel on the die grinder and tried to work my way around as much as I could and as high up as I could. The corners were the most difficult because the grinder wouldn't fit down inside of the cooler and the wheel I was using wasn't big enough in diameter to let me cut with the grinder above the cooler (does that make sense?). So I ended up with a smaller deburring bit on the grinder so that I could get the body of the grinder perpendicular to the cut. Once the cooler was rougly cut, I used a screw driver and my hands to remove as much of the foam insulation as I could and break the cooler free. Be aware that my boat had a PVC pipe conduit fiberglassed in high up on the inner-side of the cooler with some wires running through it. Then the cooler was still stuck, since the opening in the deck for the cooler is smaller than the cooler itself. I ended up removing the driver kick-panel and taking it through that opening (might want to plan on removing this before you start). After it was out, I had a lot of insulation left to remove and then I finished grinding what was left of the cooler off. Then got the shop-vac out and tried to clean up the dust.

Not sure if that makes sense. It took longer and was more aggrivating than I thought it would be!

[C.A.]

I added some arrows showing where the PVC pipe conduit is located.....

[G]

Yeah... that makes perfect sense. The pictures help alot, thats what I was looking for. I wasn't sure about the cut on the inside where the seat filler cushion goes. Didn't want to cut all the way through if it was solid there or grind it up and make a mess. Thanks alot for the info.

[rweilbacher]

So what are you guys putting up there? ballast

[G]

I have been looking at wakemakers.com and trying to get some ideas as to what I can do. They have a section on 02 to 06 SAN210's . i want to put the bowfiller sack in the front and I'm going to take my tanks out of the back and install sacks. I have about 800 to 900lbs. of lead in there and just getting tired of hauling it around when we cruise the lake, have a boat full or have some kids riding slow. It makes the boat drag and washes the wake out bad, plus hauling it on the trailer all the time can't be good. I'm sure there are others that can chime in that know way more than me or have already done it. I'm in the begining stages of looking into it. I'm interested to see what others have done also.

[C.A.]

My boat is a Super Sport - so it had no factory ballast - so I started with a clean slate. I also used Wake Makers and certainly recommend them. Call them and tell the what you want to do and they will put together a package (I spoke with Jason).

I have (3) Johnson Ultra Ballast Pumps each filling and draining with their own 1" thru-hull wired with solenoids off of the factory dash switches. They belly pump handles the 650lbs Integrated Bow Sac as well as a 580lbs Center Locker Sac through my own valve system that I put under the helm. I have 750lbs sacs in each rear locker. On the right side I plumbed in a hose with a valve that lets me hook up a 400lb surf sac behind the driver to the right pump for surfing.

[Scoobie2]

My boat is a Super Sport - so it had no factory ballast - so I started with a clean slate. I also used Wake Makers and certainly recommend them. Call them and tell the what you want to do and they will put together a package (I spoke with Jason).

I have (3) Johnson Ultra Ballast Pumps each filling and draining with their own 1" thru-hull wired with solenoids off of the factory dash switches. They belly pump handles the 650lbs Integrated Bow Sac as well as a 580lbs Center Locker Sac through my own valve system that I put under the helm. I have 750lbs sacs in each rear locker. On the right side I plumbed in a hose with a valve that lets me hook up a 400lb surf sac behind the driver to the right pump for surfing.

I have 3 Johnson pumps too, and used the third to transfer between the rear bags. Fill time is amazing, as is the drain time.

[cloead]

Was thinking of doing something similar.. that cooler is just annoying

[rweilbacher]

I took out the hard tanks in my 03 sante and used wakemakers package 750lbs. I kept the ski locker hard tank and usually just fill a 500lb fat sac and throw it in the bow. I really like the wake with the 750's but do miss the storage room with the hard tanks. I was thinking about pulling out front cooler as well but use storage space in bow for stuff
here are some pics of my install.

[obd666]

I took out the hard tanks in my 03 sante and used wakemakers package 750lbs. I kept the ski locker hard tank and usually just fill a 500lb fat sac and throw it in the bow. I really like the wake with the 750's but do miss the storage room with the hard tanks. I was thinking about pulling out front cooler as well but use storage space in bow for stuff

yeah, i like my bow for storage too. was thinking of swapping my hard tanks for 750s and just using the 1000 lbs triangle sack up front when necessary. curiously, how much bigger was the wake going from full factory (3 hard tanks) to full 750s in the back with center tank and 500 sack up front ? i currently run full factory with 200 lbs of lead in bow, and still have all my storage. just curious how huge it gets with your setup ...

sorry to get off topic. i have considered taking the cooler out too, but it does seem like it would be a pain in the @ss

[G]

rweilbacher, did you use the existing pumps from the tanks to fill and drain the bags or did you have to install different pumps?

[rweilbacher]

G
i used existing pumps and just used the wakemaker hoses attached to factory hoses. still control ballast pumps from driver panel. there is a pump attached to the bottom of the hard tank that you need to remove and place at the bottom of the 750lb fat sac. i have a pic i can upload tomorrow. thats why you can see that cut-out that I made to level it all out. dont know if you need to do that but i had some plywood in the garage and just threw some carpet on it.
this job only took a couple evenings and isnt too hard. just remove the hard tanks and and attach the wakemaker hoses to existing hoses. screw pump that drains water onto the fat sac and you should be good. let me know how it goes if you do it and if you have any questions hopefully i can help you out.

OBD
the wake is huge!!! i use to fill factory hard tanks and put a 550lb on the floor in front of back seat and add a 250lb fat sac in bow. Not much room to move around with fat sacs all over the boat so the wakemakers 750lb in rear eliminated the 550 on the floor by the back seat and just moved it to the bow. I upgraded the prop earlier this season from 644 too.

[obd666]

OBD
the wake is huge!!! i use to fill factory hard tanks and put a 550lb on the floor in front of back seat and add a 250lb fat sac in bow. Not much room to move around with fat sacs all over the boat so the wakemakers 750lb in rear eliminated the 550 on the floor by the back seat and just moved it to the bow. I upgraded the prop earlier this season from 644 too.

now thats what i wanted to hear am running the 1236 already so im ready to slam it out, haha. i see the holes towards the back where the empty pumps were under the hard tanks, did you leave those pumps in that cavity? im just thinking about what i keep in there today, and guess i can leave stuff on top of the bags when in use ... life vests, ropes/handles, etc ??

[G]

rweilbacher, Thanks. Thats exactly what I wanted to hear, that you used the old pumps to fill/drain the bags.... : )

OBD
As far as mine I run around 800 to 900lbs of lead plus the tanks,and I have the flat tanks in the back, and I throw a 550 in the floor with 6 people. So I'm guessing I'm running 2K in weight plus peeps.... The wake is smokin' and It don't take to long to plain off. I need to look and see what prop I have. I think it's what came on the Team Ed. back in 2003. I'm just going to put the 400lbs bags in the back. Which will still have plenty of room for storage, which I plan on throwing ropes, jackets,etc. on them. We did in the 2000 SAN we had with no Problem.