It would bug the livin' hell outta me to know I had a foreign object like that in my fuel tank, but at the cost/expense/hassle of pulling the tank, etc., I think I'd learn to live with it if the object was just going to be there and it'd do no harm.
We use the dip-stick method, too. The PO of our boat fabricated it of a plain ol' dowel rod, couldn't even tell you what kind of wood it is, that is thick enough to largely fill the fuel fill port, so it wouldn't be very easy to break.
Yeah, Cam, those tank tenders are Real Nice
. Also Real Expensive
.
Jim