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Can they not put a magnetic stub on the oil drain plug like motorcycles? ;)

Or is the engine made from aluminum?

It's not that the metallic debris has caused the failure, but rather it indicates a serious failure has occurred inside the engine.

Some debris is completely normal when the engine is first being started and breaking in. This is true for all internal combustion engines. That's why some designs use magnets to capture the debris and shavings.

That said, this debris was probably more substantial than shavings.

I'm sure they could dump a bushel of hard drive magnets over a pipe somewhere but an modern marine engine already has some sort of magnetic filtration.

Also, you don't just turn this kind of thing off while you change the oil so a drain plug isn't a realistic option.

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