 AUTOMOTIVE vs. MARINE DISTRIBUTORS
It seems that almost every week we run into a customer that happens to have an automotive distributor in their boat. People do not seem to understand that this is a seriously dangerous situation. The smallest of your problems would be a ticket or impound of your boat until you have replaced the improper components, where the worst case could be loss of life or serious damage to your boat if fuel vapor were to ignite in the engine bay.
 Automotive distributors are basically out in the air. The engine compartment is not sealed and air has pretty much free passage. Sure they can create a fire if you have a leaking fuel line or something, but it is not as likely as having the wrong distributor in your boat. The automotive version has a sealed distributor bowl (sometimes also vented with a small hole on the side) and a vented distributor cap. You need venting of your distributor to eliminate the creation of ionized particles with in the cap. These particles can cause misfires and in some cases if left for too long, the failure of your ignition module.
Your marine distributor on the other hand utilizes a vented bowl that has a flame arrestor screen in the side. It also has a sealed distributor cap with no venting. The purpose of the sealed cap and flame arrestor is to allow the distributor to still breathe, but if fuel vapors enter the cap and ignite they stay in the cap and distributor bowl because of the flame arrestor. These systems work so good that if you ever did have vapors ignite in the cap you would probably never know it.
The US Coast Guard requires marine certified distributors on all boats, but there seems to be a grey area in regards to open air engines. Your primary concern is on boats where the engine bay is enclosed or covered. You better make sure, for you and your family's sake, that you have the proper ignition components installed. On boats where the engine is out in the open air (many jet boats and V-drives) you don't have the same concerns, but depending on where you operate your boat you will still be in violation of Coast Guard regulations.
IGNITION UNITS TOO!
Aftermarket ignition amplifiers are also a concern. If the electronics within the unit can in any way ignite fuel vapor they are considered illegal. Again, the main issue is due to having a component in the engine bay that can ignite a fire.
The right way to use an ignition amplifier on your boat is to have a marine certified unit. These are simply a potted unit, or in other words filled with an epoxy or encapsulated with a high silica composite. With this style ignition unit, once the box has been damaged it is a throw-away. There is no way to remove the encapsulation so as to work on the electronics or circuit board of the unit. Plus, these units run very hot and unless the circuitry is specifically designed to work while encapsulated you will have unit failures. Mallory does not offer encapsulated ignition units, but we do offer these in the Jacobs Electronics line (another Mr Gasket company, as is Mallory and Accel). The Jacobs units are very good, so don't be afraid of using one.
The other way to install an amplifier is to just NOT mount it within the engine bay. Put it somewhere under a seat or something that will not be exposed to fuel vapor, or water submersion. There is usually more than enough wire length included to mount it outside of the engine bay. But keep in mind that this is another grey area with the Coast Guard. If you meet up with an officer that is a stickler to the rules he will probably write you up, even with box outside of the bay. If you happen be lucky enough to meet one that understands engines and ignition systems he may not pay any attention to it at all.
IGNITION COILS - Stupid but true!
It is hard to believe that the US Coast Guard also has issues with ignition coils, and this is a pet peeve with me. Coast Guard regulations state you must have a marine certified coil ... huh? True, true, true. The problem I have with this is that automotive and marine coils are the same, exactly the same. The only difference is that the marine coil has the different sticker on it. That's it, a different sticker. To make it more interesting is that you or I cannot just get the sticker an apply it. These things are like a Notary's signature, only the certified manufacturer agent(s), (and not just anyone at the company) can apply the sticker to the product.
An example is the Mallory Promaster coils. The #MAL-29440 and #MAL-29450 are both automotive coils, while the Mallory #MAL-29440M and #MAL-29450M coils are the marine counterparts. The ONLY difference is that the marine coils are built into a different color plastic housing and have the marine sticker on them.
I don't see the rationale with this other than to milk the public for the more expensive coil because of the employee certification and sticker costs. I can't blame Mallory for this, only typical government bureaucracy. Mallory has to do what the law requires.
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