I need some help. aka I'm a moron

The factory cb mount in the prostar I drive was broken, the little elastic band that holds down the radio was snapped. Being the incredibly clever person I am, I decide I'll just mount the cb to the dash. I purchased a Francis antenna kit, it came with a 4ft antenna, 18ft of coax and the mount. I put everything on, but (here's the part where I'm a moron) I pit the little plastic washer on the bottom of the bracket iinstead of in between the little double female thing you screw the antenna into and the bracket

I read earlier that I had done it wrong, so I swapped it around. Now here's the funny part. When I had it installed backwards, my swr according to my 29lx was below 1.5 for every channel. Now its up around 2.

By all accounts I read, with it backwards the swr should have been way high. Does anyone know what might be going on, could the improper installation have caused foul readings, or are the swr meters built into radios just not at all accurate?

 

So should there be plastic washers on both sides of the bracket, where the coax screws onto the lug or w/e it is, and where the double female antenna adaptor thing screws onto the lug?

Its working fine it seems, I'd just hate to be getting greatly diminished performance due to something as simple as a plastic washer.

 

Awesome graphic, I have now realized I have the plastic washer in the right place, just upside down. Thanks for everyone's help.

Now, one last question. On a cb that hasn't been modified, how much difference does the swr make? I know excessively high swr can cause damage, but will a 2 vs. say a 1.5 make a tangible difference in radio performance?