engine is a chrysler 318 and is in a 1971 starfire.The boat is 24 foot long with a volvo penta 270 outdrive and has had new u-joints and bellows installed within the last month it also has had a tune up,new carburator,new coil with ballast resistor installed and a new perko switch installed,propeller has been repaired within the last 8 weeks by a professional shop. Boat was running great but started running rough and dying out but as we had trolled with it idling and sometimes with one and sometimes two drifts socks one is approx 2 feet and the other is approx 4 foot for fifty or sixty hours and figured plugs to be fouled, We installed new plugs and it still ran rough and would eventually just shut off or die we went thru the firing order several times,pulled the plugs and tested them for spark and to make sure the gap was correct as well and the wires were good and none were found to be bad and were reinstalled and firing order checked again as wires were connected to the plugs and removed the distributor disassembled the points,condensor wires ans cleaned and check for cracks exposed wires etc. reassembled and points set and reinsatlled the distributor started engine set carb,timing etc. and it ran great that nite on the hose. Took the boat and launched it and it started ok and was warming up but by the time the truck had been parked and the driver had returned to the boat it was running a little ruff. went ahead and attempted to launch by reversing away from the dock and the boat died and was hard to start and barely was able to run and navigate the current at the same time but got it docked fairly easy as we had the dock to ourselves. Back at home we noticed the timing to be '' jumping '' around a bit and the shaft at the rotor has some side to side play in it not sure how much but enough to create an opening at the points when sideways pressure is applied the cam that opens the points has some wear but still has pretty sharp edges to it but wear is at area that is the dwell angle area. The engine also makes a loud " sucking " sound and started running ruff and dying on us. Sorry to be so lond winded but had to let u know what we have done so far now to the questions.Is it possible all our problems are issues with the distributor cam having wear at the dwell angle area and play in the rotor shaft ? Question #2 will an automotive distributor work if i remove the vacuum advance and will it be coast guard approved ( i plan on filling the opening that will be created by removal of the vacuum advance from the automotive distributor housing if it is no existant on the original marine distributor so they will be a match ). Again sorry for the length and in advance thank you for all the help in locating a possible source for my problem
