did you have the thunder bolt setups in the boat what year who power plant ? you need the box to run the Pro msd distributor will not fire with out the box . less your using the white wire and have a points distributor and you would need a switch over to power another coil and a switch to run for power step down to a points coil never done it but could be done. msd make two pickup distributors so you can switch over to another box and pickup they use them in offroad off shore race boats and nascar .there not much to trouble shooting the msd should have the paper work it is in there as well on line .or send the box in for testing