Some advice on going to electronic ignition on my A4.

[pearsontriton28]

The back story: my 1961 A4 ran great last season. In the fall I pulled it for the winter and made NO CHANGES to the engine. I winterized it only. Anyway, this spring I started up the engine while on the hard to make sure I no issues before dropping it in the water. She fired right up and ran fine so called for a hoist and dropped her in. Ready pull out of the launch well, I through it in reverse. Reverse granted me with a sputtering engine and... dead. Forward is the same.
Restarts every time but will not stay running while in gear. At some point I noticed my coil gets really hot. Can’t say I noticed anything else out of the ordinary beyond sputtering motor and hot coil. Let me add, I changed plugs, wires, cap and rotor at the start of last season.
I called Moyer, talked to a gentleman and he suggested cleaning the points. I noticed the mechanical parts on the distributor were badly corroded and the plate that hold the points was also corroded, so I cleaned it all up with electronic cleaner and hit it all with dry graphite lube. This allowed the mechanical parts to move freely. I cleaned the points and no difference. I dug around and found some new points and changed them. The new points looked really bad at the contact points. New points installed aaaand no spark. I notice the coil still getting hot. I changed out the coil with a spare I that came with the boat. After doing this, cranking the engine for a second or two to see if I had spark. I then noticed smoke coming out of the distributor. Now, I’m no mechanic or ignition expert but I don’t think this is good.
My guess, I fried the condenser. Maybe someone can correct me in that if needed.

Here’s my question: I want to go to electronic ignition at some point. I’m starting to think maybe I should do that now instead of investing in a condenser, and mounting plate for the points. The old mounting plate is pretty rough and gave me difficulties when trying to set my points. Should I just convert it now? My plan is to get what ever I need to update the ignition. By the way, what should I get in addition to the electronic ignition itself? Further advice is welcome.