I found Ward Richardson on LinkedIn so sent him a message. He actually responded, in about 20 minutes!! Talk about impressive! Anyway, he told me the quadrant on my B361 is actually a composite plastic and was designed to take the force from a Raymarine 6000, and that he had never heard of a quadrant failing due to a linear autopilot, which is great news for me. He also sent me a diagram with pictures showing how a linear drive autopilot is installed at the factory. Very helpful. I just have to have fabricated a bracket similar to what others have posted here.
Thanks all for the help and advice! I certainly hope this is the beginning of the end of a successful autopilot installation project.
Thanks all for the help and advice! I certainly hope this is the beginning of the end of a successful autopilot installation project.