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I've often wondered the same thing... Here is my take... which is of course just my opinion and not based on any fact...
I see it as being two fold... One the motor cover does not allow a lot of foreign particles in and two the air we boat in has very few contaminants... i.e. dust. Thats my take on it. I would be interested in hearing what others have to say on the subject.
I agree with the assumption that the road the boat is on while the outboard runs is not very dusty. As far as compressor goes, the tolerances it operates under are probably pretty tight- a good reason to have an air filter on it.
I don't really detail under the cowling for looks much, mostly to keep the salty, flakey looking stuff from being sucked into the intake. I was told by a trusted outboard mechanic to try to keep it pretty clean under there to prevent that from happening.
