Random thought thread

Why do inboard boat engines rotate opposite to the direction of car engines? Wouldn’t it have been less expensive and less work to reverse the pitch of the propeller?

Why don’t we use geared automatic transmissions on boats? Doesn't lower gearing and more torque on a boat make as much sense as on a car to move away from a stop and accelerate better? Why just jam up the RPMs get the boat to accelerate when we all know the power band is the same as a car engine?