Skyline Aurora Cam-lever striker plate assembly

[bruce987]

Hi,
I have a Skyline Aurora pop-top with a cam-lock lever. The lever turns and engages with a plate attached to the roof. I am interested in the correct order of assembly of the plate to the roof.

Question: should the black plastic shim be next to the roof or next to the striker plate.

Detail:

Currently there is a metal bar, a plastic shim and a set of washers to provide spacing as follows: The black shim touches the steel striker bar with the gap for the lever above.

===||==============================||===  roof
 ==||==                          ==||==   spacing washer 1
 ==||==          gap             ==||==   spacing washer 2
 ==||==                          ==||==   spacing washer 3    ( there are actually 5 )
___||______________________________||___  plastic shim
===||==============================||===  Striker plate ( horizontal section )
 ==||== T|||||||||||||||||||||T  ==||==   washers, and vertical part of striker.
  N||N   |||||||||||||||||||||    N||N    nylock nut and continuation of striker.
   ||                              ||     end of mounting bolt.

The cam lever arm swings round, into the gap, and then the cam pushes it down, securing the roof. So, when its closed, the lever bears on the plastic shim, not on the steel striker plate.

I have the problem that there is a small gap between the plastic shim and the plate, as the plate bends round. In a standard door lock, this bend is what catches the lever and guides it to be above the plate, if its a little too low.

In the van, the lever has managed to insert itself in between the shim and plate, bending the shim like this: : The shim has stretched to no longer be flat and obscures the gap.

===||==============================||===  roof
 ==||==                          ==||==   spacing washer 1
 ==||==    /--------\            ==||==   spacing washer 2
 ==||==   /          \           ==||==   spacing washer 3    ( there are actually 5 )
___||____/            \____________||___  plastic shim
===||==============================||===  Striker plate ( horizontal section )
 ==||== T|||||||||||||||||||||T  ==||==   washers, and vertical part of striker.
  N||N   |||||||||||||||||||||    N||N    nylock nut and continuation of striker.
   ||                              ||     end of mounting bolt.

Now its hard to know if the cam-lock is correctly engaged.

I have tried to search on the Skyline site but cannot find anything to say whether the shim should be BELOW the gap or ABOVE the gap.
Google AI is telling me that the lever should bear directly on the steel plate without the shim in the way.
Putting the shim next to the GRF roof would help protect it from damage by the lever.

So the alternate arrangement would be this:

===||==============================||===  roof
___||______________________________||___  plastic shim
==||==                          ==||==   spacing washer 1
 ==||==          gap             ==||==   spacing washer 2
 ==||==                          ==||==   spacing washer 3    ( there are actually 5 )
===||==============================||===  Striker plate ( horizontal section )
 ==||== T|||||||||||||||||||||T  ==||==   washers, and vertical part of striker.
  N||N   |||||||||||||||||||||    N||N    nylock nut and continuation of striker.
   ||                              ||     end of mounting bolt.

I am sure that there are many of you out there with this mechanism - what's the right assembly order?

Thanks Bruce