If you're caught in a bad natured following sea whereas waves are breaking over the engine, water is eventually going to be drawn into the fuel area (carburetor throats). If this is the case, yeah... it would take a good days length of time to dry out. And again, if this is the case, you're lucky that you don't have a bunch of rusty parts.
Putting the above aside for the time being as not happening and as you suspect, the problem is ignition. The real test would be to do a spark test after the engine fails and will not restart... however, for the moment, do the following spark test to see what you have now.
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(Spark Test)
With all of the spark plugs removed, rig a spark tester so that the spark has a 7/16" gap to jump. The spark should jump that 7/16" gap with a strong blue lightning like flame... a real SNAP! Does it?
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No tester?... Build The Following)
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(Spark Tester - Home Made)
(J. Reeves)
You can use a medium size philips screwdriver (#2 I believe) inserted into the spark plug boot spring connector, then hold the screwdriver shank approximately 7/16" away from the block to check the spark or build the following:
A spark tester can be made with a piece of 1x4 or 1x6, drive a few finishing nails through it, then bend the pointed ends at a right angle. You can then adjust the gap by simply twisting the nail(s). Solder a spark plug wire to one which you can connect to the spark plug boots, and a ground wire of some kind to the other to connect to the powerhead somewhere. Use small alligator clips on the other end of the wires to connect to ground and to the spark plug connector that exists inside of the rubber plug boot.
Using the above, one could easily build a spark tester whereas they could connect 2, 4, 6, or 8 cylinders all at one time. The ground nail being straight up, the others being bent, aimed at the ground nail. A typical 4 cylinder tester follows:
..........X1..........X2
.................X..(grd)
..........X3..........X4
This can obviously be modified to a 6 or 8 cylinder setup tester.
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Let us know what you find.