If you have ball lock QD's and are attaching to ball lock kegs, AEB or Kegland, they should be the same. The gas QD is usually grey color and the beer QD black, those are normally not interchangeable.
Up here in Wisconsin you wouldn't see cones till in the fall, nor would the hops be that high. But with the wacky weather it's anyone's guess plus you're farther south.
Is there a nuclear plant nearby?
Boeing doesn't have a good track record. They are always behind schedule and over budget and lately safety is questionable. I think NASA should take that into consideration next time they have a gazillion dollar contract to award.
I would say that I don't notice any difference but I do brew mostly without using a hop spider.
The last 5-10 minutes of my boil I throw in my last hops, then stir it real good. I then turn off the heat and add Irish moss, stir some more. It called whirl pooling if you're not sure. The stirring...
Unless you know someone with CAD skills to draw up a schematic, get some graph paper and sketch it the old fashion way.
Graph paper has easy to draw on squares imprinted on the paper so it help make your sketch easier to layout. Not entirely necessary, but helps for a cleaner look.
Not swaying you from a hop spider but I wouldn't worry too much with hop debris. You could wash the yeast which would leave yeast part most intact if you're really concerned.
Lots of posts here about reusing yeast and washing it too