I hear ya, Rob, but I don't think I stated things clearly. I meant to say
that I pulled the coil wire and held it near a ground. I ALSO looked for
spark at the spark plug wire. I did NOT do both tests at the same time,
although my statement makes it look like I did! I realize that there will be
no spark at the plug wires if the coil wire is disconnected!

I will check for 12 volts. I would have done so tonight, but my multimeter
had a dead battery. Would I hold the probes to the pos and neg on the coil,
or am I better off using another ground point?

Back to the ballast resistor, I know what a ballast resistor from an old
Dodge looks like, and I know what it does, but I cannot find one in the
wiring diagram or on the boat.



by pulling the coil wire and
holding it near a ground, and by putting a spare spark plug into a plug
wire.

That is spark at the secondary side of the coil. You will get no spark at
any plug wire with the coil wire pulled.

Trust me... there is no spark.

You really need to check that you have 12 volts at the coil while
cranking, 9-10 volts in the "run" position.

You will get no spark ever if you don't get this 12 volts cranking first,
and have the points set to open to the specified gap twice every engine
revolution.

Rob