Working out the bugs!

Need some advice- I finsihed my three teir gravity stand and gave it a test run. It has 3 Ind burners, 8.75g kettles with blinchman weldless thermos and QD's with silicone tube to move fluids. Like anything new I ran into several problems. First, the heat transfer form the burners melted the rubber coating on the BV's. No big deal I built some heat sheilds that should work. Second my thermos were awefully calibrated reading almost 30 degrees off. For the money these cost I was pissed. Calibrated them on the fly with a digital probe but one of them seems to almost stick. Third, my DIY Pizza pan FB was a miserable failure. The holes were two big, some grain got around it and clogged the SS braid attached to the pick up tube. I had to dump it all into my reliable cooler to finsih the brew. This is where I need the help. My weldless bulhead sits about 2 inches off the bottom and my pot is 15 1/4 diameter. I cant find a FB that size or one able to fit under the fitting. With it sitting a full two inches off the bottom I have to mash at 2.0q/lb easy just to get enough water contact with the grain. Thinking about the double bazoka with the elbow that would make up that two inches.

Sorry for the long post.