so this all happened because the dumbass who owned this boat put a after market dip stick that read full at only about 3 to 4 quarts of oil... we freakin ran this motor dryy dammit!!! and its terrible be cause when we took it apart you can tell the motor had just been rebuilt...    one of the lifters was completely grinded down... and the first rod let go and sent the piston into the head. all bearings are fried... hopefully we can use 6 of the rods still... other than that EVERYTHING is bad lol gotta get the block machined, and hopefullly they can machine the crank also.. it blew up august at the cp regatta at twin palms.

So for all of you that don't know this...

When you buy a boat the first thing you do is change the oil regardless of what the previous owner tells you. Since boats have many possibilities for oil pan styles you must figure out which one you have so you know how much oil to put in there and at that point you look at your dipstick and mark it. All of my old boats have had a dip stick that does NOT read correctly on the existing markings. If you have a newer boat and you can believe the engine has not been removed yet then you can trust the dip stick.

Tough lesson dude, hopefully your misfortune will help someone else. Besides after this you are due for lots of good fortune 

BTW Do some research and buy yourself a 10 quart oil pan

Ive change my oil twice since i bought my my boat back in june. Both times it was full after 4 quarts. Its a stock marine power 454 mkv. I thought i couldnt get all the oil drained and thats after 3 days of draining the oil. I always worry about a aftermarket dip stick but i dont know how to check if the oil level is correct. I fear the dipstick is to long. But its been out 4 times now and still runs...  so how do you find out what pan you have?

4 quarts doesn't sound like enough. Did you measure the oil you removed the first time?

Trying to ID a pan is not the easiest thing to do, but what I would look at first is the pan depth the same the entire length. This would be an aftermarket marine pan. Some of these the color may help. If it's a stock automotive style pan there will be the low spot on one end of the pan and high on the other. Get a camera down there and take several pictures then post them. There are alot of good guys here that have experience with different parts on boats. Use google to search capacities as well.

I always measure the oil I remove in a change. It's always 9 1/2 quarts in a 10 quart system. I use the suction tank that the tube slides down the dipstick tube. Standard filter is 1 quart.

Pic of the motor

Pic of the motor

If that's a marine power its a 5qt pan.

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I have a manual on my marine power. I'll look at it

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Here is some pics that i took awhile back... i appreciate your help. I dont want my motor ending up like johnnys here.  I didnt measure the oil exactly when i first drained it but it filled 1 1/2 inches up in a 5 gallon bucket. Hardly anything. I also have two remote oil filters. When i run the boat it doesnt make any unusual noises like lifter tick ... at least i haven't notice

11/2=5.5, 5.5 x 5.5 x 3.14285 = 95.07 sq in, x 1.5=142.306 cu.in., /231=.617 gal or ~78 oz, or 2.43 qts 
My summit/chevelle/454 pan holds 6 qts w/filter, and I run it at 6.5 qts, and will drain all but half a quart at an oil change.

Daniel 

Oh yea, I just remembered too, I could see the line in the pan where the oil level stayed so thats how much water i knew to fill to.  I konw there probbibly is a more accurate way to do this but I knew that would put me in the ballpark and I could just go from there

Something so simple as oil..

I changed oil the other day in the boat. I've changed it at least twice before. Damn stick was reading full after 3 quarts went in the pan and about 1.5 quarts in the two remote oil filters.. dipstick was at full when I drained it because I topped it off that morning at Elsinore. (It was a winterizing trip to fill with fresh fuel and sta-bil)

Checked my oil container and it there was hardly a couple quarts. So I thought, crap I didn't get all the oil out, must be debris or bearings or lifter grindings plugging up the bung. 
Wasted one oil change drained it again(didn't touch filters the 2nd time cause they were full of new oil)

I took an old 12v RV water pump some brass fittings and clear hose to connect to my oil drain line on the boat so I could pump it all out in a few minutes instead of waiting on two days of dripping..  sure enough only got three quarts out when pump started sucking air.
 
Don't know why is didn't notice it before, I knew to use 5qt per oil change. This thread made me stop and look at it. I suppose dump 2 more quarts in and engrave a new oil level line on the stick.

No wonder my lifters were ticking that day at Elsinore.

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Just changed oil again on Sunday. I got miffed because of course the dipstick is way the heck off. I've been running it with 5 quarts in the pan with full filters (6.5 ish) always two inches over full, so I called Marine power this morning and gave him my motor specs and he said the 390 sport pac motors have a 7 quart pan. Their dipsticks are several inches too long. I'm surprised such a well known crate motor company can't get the right length stick.