Ignition problem?

I have an '84 2001 that has been a great boat. Went to run it yesterday after sitting for a month. Cranked the ignition and it wouldn't turn over. Tried 4 or 5 times and nothing. I thought I would try it one more time and it wouldn't turn over but when I turned the key off, the engine continued to crank. I had to let the battery die. I got the battery tested and it was bad. When I went to connect the new battery it sparked at the connectors so I just disconnected it. Any advice would be great.

Let me get this straight, the starter was cranking the engine and you left it this way until the battery died! If so, you should consider removing the starter and having it rebuild immmediately as you surely overheated it.

In the first sentence you say it would NOT turn over, yet you then say it would just continue to crank. "turn over" and "crank" is the same thing. Did you mean it would crank, but not fire or start?

Sounds like your ignition switch is shot...replace it.

It was definitly more than a bad battery. bad batteries dont have enough juice to turn an engine over. bad starters draw a bunch of extra juice from a good battery and make it a bad battery rather quickly depending on age of battery. you could have a bad starter or ignition. sounds like ignition. if you jump the ignition with a screw driver and the boat starts as long as you leave screw driver on contacts starter cranks. sounds like your igniton is sticking. try tightening the nut on back of keyed ignition switch to make sure whole ignition is not turning as you turn key. this happens if it gets loose. also spray wd-40 or lock ease graphite into key hole so it lets off starter when you let off key. or maybe whole igniton is bad??