What makes an engine accessory marinized?

[Government cheese]

When I bought my boat is had an MSD ignition on it. The distributor is the marine version with the flameproof vents on the bottom, however the control box is not. I am not sure if the box is any good now since the boat sank a few years ago. For purposes for just getting the motor dried and running I swapped in a regular automotive distributor. Now I know thats not safe so it will come back out. But, is a non-marine distributor control box ok? As far as I can tell, the difference is the marine version is potted. If not, I have some GM HEI controllers I could wire in, and as long as my connections are insulated, it should be ok, right? http://www.geocities.ws/loudgpz/GPZgmHEImod.html

Thoughts?

 

[Scott Danforth]

water ingress, spark arresting, and most importantly, the testing and certification to prove it is SAE J1171 compliant. if the boat blows up and you do not have marine compliant components, you are fair game for the lawyers.

unless your boat routinely sees well over 6000 rpm or has a forced induction, the MSD ignition isnt helping you much.

 

[Government cheese]

It won't, which is why I'm looking for a less expensive replacement.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you can get a complete Delta Voyager distributor with wires, etc for about $300