I have managed to resurrect a Navico Tillerpilot 2500... an apparently ancient (circa '80s) piece of gear that has been discontinued. The testing I did showed that the unit could be set, and responded to changes in direction. (drove rather nicely actually... the only problems were a bit of corrosion at a connection to the navigation sense head... the "compass").

The only issues I have now are getting 12 volts to it in the cockpit. (minor issue) and properly attaching it to the base on the cockpit seat. This is where I am scratching my head a bit.

The base is a threaded "donut." It appears as though a piece screws into the base and then the Tillerpilot drops into place into this piece and the drive rod snaps onto a little ball head screwed into the tiller.

First, is this right? Second, any source for these base pieces? I see one site here http://www.pyacht.com/navico-tillerpilot-brackets.htm and they have what they call "Pedestal Brackets." Since there is no picture, I am not sure if this is correct or not.

So just looking for some suggestions. I may just make a piece... If I understand what it is supposed to do... threads on one end to screw into the female "donut" base, and the other end has a somewhat tight hole for the bracket on the Tillerpilot to slide into... is that about right? No doubt all the threads are metric as the Tillerpilot was originally made in England. I could always mock one up out of wood and then refine it until it works.