[Rhodes22-list] Tiller pilot - Am I overthinking this?

[Mike Riter]

I just purchased an ST1000 Tiller Pilot from Defender and after reading the
instructions several times, I'm left scratching my head about a critical
part of the installation.

According to the directions, with the tiller centered, I should have 23.2"
from the gunwale mounting pin to the center of the tiller handle. I
premeasured everything and ordered a 3" extension and a 5" extension.

I assumed the tiller pilot would come from the factory with the pushrod
extended half way through it's length so that it would move equally to port
and starboard. Mine came with the pushrod fully retracted. The directions
say nothing about powering it up and extending the pushrod to the halfway
point.  Which is what I just did. Since (my) logic dictates this is
correct, I'm going to attempt to install it this way.

So, my sanity check type question to those of you who've installed them;
did your tiller pilot come with the pushrod extended to the center or did
you have to do something similar to what I did.

The service dept. at Defender was no help and Raymarine wouldn't answer the
phone.

I've attached a photo of what it looked like out of the box.

Mike Riter
SV Emma B
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