Can the props just be swapped on that, or does he have to switch the lowers??? I know bravos can be run backwards, but Alphas cant, I believe the outboard lowers are closer to the Alpha. I know his are 2.5's but from what I have been told the 3 liter merc outboard actually has alpha innards.

On the 2.5 lowers you need to switch the gearcases. The forward and reverse gears are different and will not hold up in reverse. Once the cases are switched, the shifters will be backwards, unless they alreasy were to begin with (forward will be reverse, reverse will be forward, etc)

yes, I am going to switch the gear cases. On the Livorsi shifters, is it a hassle to change fwd/reverse? I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. The downside to working offshore...... away for 3 weeks at a time

OK,

Just wanted to make sure you realized this. I dont believe it is hard to change the cables over, but not sure.

Not sure on the Livorsi's, but I've seen them where the right hand rotating motor's cable enters the shifter from the rear and the left hand rotation's cable enters from the front.