On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:18:59 -0700, JamesE
wrote:

Okay I was planning on buying a new electronic distributor, but those
have really gone up in price. Since I don't want to spend that much
money so I will repair this one. But the problem is that today I
looked at the mechanical advance in the distributor and everything was
intact and appeared to be moving fine. Therefore I don't think that
this is the problem like I originally did. The points did have slight
pitting but nothing severe. Tomorrow I am going to order the
electronic conversion kit because I want to get rid of the points.
However I don't think that the distributor is the problem, so this
won't fix it. Does anyone have any other suggestions on what could be
wrong? I want to fix this myself because I am pretty mechanically
inclined and don't want to pay a mechanic. I was thinking maybe the
coil is bad because there is slight pitting in the distributor cap.
Also I don't think it is the timing chain causing the problem because
this boat was not used very often. The previous owner had the boat
for five years and never once used it. So this problem may have been
caused because the boat sat for five years, although it was properly
winterized. This may be a carburetor problem, although I am leaning
towards an ignition problem. I have already sprayed the carburetor
with carburetor cleaner but if I can't fix this problem my next step
will be to try rebuilding the carburetor.

If I recall correctly, the thing would run well, then die.
You would tinker with the points and it would be okay for awhile.
While you were tinkering, things were cooling off.
Look for something heat related in the fuel/ignition.
I think you said there was no fuel venting problem.
Don't waste time rebuilding the carb if you're not sure that's the
problem, and it probably isn't, given your symptoms.
It won't hurt to replace the coil, points and condenser.
Coils can cause intermittent problems.
I would do this before doing the electronic conversion, because the
conversion itself will introduce new doubts.
But even before that, if it runs well for a while now, I would hook up
ignition meters and fuel gages, reproduce the problem while monitoring
the gages, before I did *anything* else.. Be careful not to short
anything or leak any gas while running.
Note, I don't have experience with marine engines, but plenty with
automotive, and your problem is an engine problem.

--Vic