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I repaired the eye on my 1989 Montauk earlier this year and determined that rod was bent intentionally at the factory when it was first installed. They did it so the eye on the inside of the boat will lay flush with the deck, without that angle it probably won't. See how it fits but using the straight rod may cause you more issues.

Almost all the wear on mine was on the outside so adding fender washers wouldn't have helped anything on mine. After I did the lay up with west marine epoxy and ground the exterior to the approximate shape. I re-drilled the hole and dry fit the bolt. Then I covered the exterior of the hole with MarineTex and covered the nubs on the bow eye with Vaseline and as the MarineTex was setting, when it got to a putty like state I then re installed the bolt and it molded perfectly to the bolt and nubs.

I'll try to find some photos but it came out perfect and I figure it should be good for another 25 years.