Recently a friend was looking to refresh the inboard/outboard engine on his small runabout.  He considered numerous options including short blocks, long blocks, and fully dressed engines. Since the long block represented a relatively low cost path compared to the others, he visited a local well-known machine shop to inquire about price and availability. The owner of the shop stated that, pre-pandemic, he could have had a new long block ready in about a week. Now, as a result of the pandemic-related supply chain issues, and labor shortages, the lead time was about seventy five weeks. If my friend’s current [...]