Good responses guys, I've considered them all and have come up with the following plan - feel free to shoot holes in these, that's how I'll learn.

I need to remove the standpipe, so I'm trying two things:

1. Buying strap wrench to use close to the elbow and hopefully get her spinning.

2. If I cannot remove, I'll cut it off and work on 12" of pipe instead of 8'. I'm sure we can extracate a smaller length of pipe.

For the future, I'm planning on installing a 8"x4" bushing at the elbow. 4" pipe isn't ideal for fast draining, but since I'm not sending any fish through the standpipe, it's an acceptable compromise. I'll use a perforated cap for the standpipe and while it will drain slowly, it will still drain and be much easier to manipulate and remove when it's time to open it up to drain.

I really like the other ideas, but this makes the most sense in terms of minimal labor in my mind.

Thoughts?

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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