Does a grounding plate really need a wood backing plate?

[Wind River]

I will be hauling out soon and one of the items I need to fix a soggy wood backing plate behind the underwater grounding plate my SSB ground strap is connected too.

The only thing attached to it is the ground strap and a bonding wire.

Is a wood backing plate really needed here? Does wood in this area provide some other function I am not aware of?

There are 4, 3/8-16 bolts attaching this plate through the hull. I was considering just adding a 2" round x 1/4" thick G10 "washer" under each nut.

Am I missing anything here?

[Orion Jim]

No. Getting rid of the wood backing plate will be one less thing to worry about.