454 w/jet....  Put in a new/rebuilt engine after last years explosion.   Go to change the oil for this years adventures and notice there is no hose from the bottom of the oil pan to drain the oil.  I can't even come close to getting a wrench on the bolt to drain the oil or install a drain kit. 

So, I get one of the dipstick sucking gizmos.  Heat up the engine, take out the dipstick and slide in the thin hose... it goes in a way, then stops dead.  It must be just above the oil level where it hits a damper or something.  Bone dry suction hose when the dipstick reads "full".

Thus, I can't get the oil out of the dipstick tube and I can't get it out of the bottom of the pan.  I managed to get an allen headed bolt out from just right of the oil pressure sensor, put the hose in there and nothing....

What to do?  External oil filter hoses holding any secrets?  Tap a hole in the case?  Go in by the fuel pump?

Thanks!

Boat:  89 commander, 454 and from what I can figure it is a Mark IV engine, # T02210XK.  Berkley Jet.  Was supposedly a fresh motor with maybe one season on it.  I believe it was the original motor that was rebuilt.  Third trip out in this boat for us, usually a day or so with about 8 hours of runtime over a couple days.

So, day one all is good.  Do some choppy skiing, make a couple runs up and down the Parker Strip... Next day, same kinda thing, made a couple stops and got going again.  Everything sounds fine and the boat is running well at about 35 mph.  Then a really deep and heavy boom goes off down in the engine along with a good amount of oil smoke.  Engine was turned off immediately, not that it would matter with the giant CLUNK that basically stopped the engine.  More smoke coming out of the valve covers.  A good amount of oil has now shown up in the bilge area.  Turned the key on to see what the water temp was right away... 145 degrees.  Did not see/notice the oil pressure before the incident.  No heat issues or oil pressure issues on our previous outings and I watch that stuff pretty close since I have owned old VW's for a long time.

I guess rod, but don't really know that much about these things.  We get towed back to the ramp and someone else says, "rod".  He calls his mechanic friend who comes out to look at it and says, "rod.. probably punched the oil pan."

It would sorta turn over when I checked it again today... noisy and clunky and then it moved no more. 

So... a few questions for ya'll:

Any good and cheap crate motors around?  Do you have a favorite outfit that you have bought one from?

Just how hard is it to get the engine etc out of the boat?  It looks like a regular engine cherry picker will be too short to pluck the deceased.  Do I build a crane or what?

Maybe it is not a thrown rod.  Any other ideas?  Too early to tell?

Do you know of any good shops that can work on something like this, or install a crate motor for me? (SoCal area, out by San Bernardino would be good)

What is your bestest and cheapest way to get this thing back on the water?

Thanks for any replies!