You did the right thing. Fender washers are NOT sufficient to back stanchions, cleats, winches, etc. They are usually thinner than standard washers and will readily deform. They are for low or no-load applications only. Yes, people get away with it for decades. I did it myself. But look at a few that were used and got stressed. You can deform them by just cranking on the fitting. When stress occurs, the center part of the washer ends up bearing the stress, so you might as well use standard washers (not). But when you use the glass (or aluminum) backing plates, just use standard stainless washers as well.
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