Enough with the Tom-Foolery.
But seriously. I recently solved a similar problem in putting together the tripod, mast brace on the new Hobie Cat. The front bar has a directional brace at the top that refused to thread in, in any other way other than to end up with the brace at 180 degrees the wrong way. Instructions said to tighten or loosen it to get the correct angle but it would not tighten that much and loosening left a tiny gap of a ml or more. They say the gap is OK as all the pressure on the bolt is mostly up & down but I'm kind of crazy in that I like load bearing parts to fit flush.
I could not find a stainless steel washer just the right size to get it flush so I tweaked a nylon washer to fit on a belt sander. Cost of nylon washer... free, because the clerk was not interested in ringing in a 6 cent item.
