Backwoods Stand

[Spinaker]

You guys are doing a great job on this! Very cool!

[Troutman]

Dang, I may have to go out and buy a Chubby just so I can build the cart !!! Hey Spinaker can you lend me a couple thou ???

[Spinaker]

We might be able to work something out!

[EdF]

Sounds a bit like an "offer you can't refuse"! ;-)

[wcpreston]

It's FINISHED!

First, with the cover on. (I'm unveiling it, after all.) This cover was $87.99 from The Cover Store, including shipping. Here's the URL for the one I bought: https://www.the-cover-store.com/gril...e/?color=Khaki



Now hum the theme song to 2001: A Space Oddysey

Tah dah!!!!



There you go! I took jlazar 's original design and made these mods:
- I used all Steel wheels due to complaints I read about the plastic ones flattening when sitting in one place for a long time, which is what this one will do.
- I used an aluminum sheet in the middle, instead of the stainless one. Still serves the purpose for this, but was half the price.
- Added two shelves. As you will see in later photos, it can hold a nice sized container very well. As you can see in this photo, the shelf under the smoker is just big enough to hold my chimneys. I have a short one from my PBC and a regular one.
- Built a firewood box. It fits just little more than 2 CF of wood, which is how big the bags are at my firewood store.
- A removal cutting board. Very excited about this.
- Oh, let's not forget that bottle opener over there



Here's a closeup of the cutting board, with a brisket on there for reference. (My previous cutting board was not big enough to hold an entire brisket. This one does that and then some.)



But the super cool thing about this cutting board is I can remove it. I did that for multiple reasons. The first is to protect the plastic from being in the sun all day long. The second is because I can use it to bring the meat back and forth! I'll cut the meat indoors, bring it out to the smoker and put it in. Then I'll clean and sanitize it, bring it back, and use it to bring the meat back inside when it's done. Cool, huh?

Here it is sitting on the other work surface.



The cutting board is 1/4", and then I glued it to a 1/2 sheet of plywood after drilling holes for dowels in it. I think 1/4" would have done just fine, too.






The way I did this was to use finishing nails to hold that sucker in place, then I drilled the holes in place. I drilled right through the cutting board plywood down into the work surface plywood. It was a 3/8" dowel, so I drilled 3/8" holes. Then I removed the wood (extracting the finishing nails) and tapped the dowels into the holes w/a little construction glue.Then I used a 1/2" drill bit to ream out the holes on the cutting board plywood, as I wanted to make it easy to "mount" it on the dowels.

Now when I come out w/my cutting board, I just plop it on there and it stays!

Well, that's it, folks! A bit more expensive than I thought it was going to be, but it's pretty awesome to have.

[wcpreston]

LOL. The idea of you taking those legs off one at a time to get the 45s' on there really gives me a giggle. Not sure why.

[wcpreston]

My shelfs are not half way. Their height was determined by the middle shelf, as I have a 1" steel bar running from a 2x4 holding it in the front and the shelf holding it in the back. Does that make sense? The 2x4 in the front has a very thick mitered slot cut in it to hold the 1" metal bar. Then the other end rests on the shelf. That gives it support. The other two corners are just 2x4 scraps.

[jlazar]

Considering a shelf but maybe just to one side. I have a spare propane tank that fits on the other side. Thinking about an orbital sander with some number 80 to round off the edges of the vertical posts vs removing and using the miter. My custom cover is a much tighter fit than what you have. I don't think the 90 degree cut and corners on the posts are a big threat to wearing any holes in the cover while taking on and off. But I would like to minimize any possibility of stress.

[Henrik]

Very nice indeed! I love all the thinking that went into the cutting board!

[wcpreston]

Thanks @Henrik!

Honestly, it came from my wife. My original plan was just glue the cutting board down. She mentioned it might not take being in the sun all day long, even with a cover.

That's where the removable idea came from. The rest was just standard woodworking stuff. All little things my daddy taught me so long ago.

Just got an idea of sending pics to my dad. He'd be proud.

[adamcoe]

Well colour me impressed, and now it's actually got me started thinking about doing a similar thing. I'm planning to get a barrel smoker this spring, and initially I was thinking about just building something small...it'd be sitting on a wooden deck, so I wanted to get a large patio stone to sit it on so we don't burn the place to the ground, and then I thought it'd be cool to attach said patio stone to a small wooden dolly so I could roll it around if need be, and so it'd be easy to transport...then I saw your project and thought, well if I'm gonna build a little dolly, why not build a larger rolling apparatus with a little side table so I have somewhere to deal with my meat and whatnot...so now I'm brainstorming something somewhat similar to yours, but maybe a little smaller, with just one side table rather than your two...BUT having the side table detachable in some way with some clasps or some other kind of attachment, so then I could also then use the side table on its own, as I sometimes do smaller cooks on my Weber Jumbo Joe and it'd be handy to have beside that too. Many possibilities...do you have any tips as to what you did right and what you might have changed in your construction? I think it's a great looking rig and I really liked your thinking about the cutting boards.

[wcpreston]

2x4s are great to build with. I like the steel wheels I bought, since they will never flatten out. And make sure any wood is made for exterior.

I screwed up the height of the middle shelf, as I couldn't get the fan mounted at the height it was originally at -- and I had to adjust once later.

The plywood did not stay glued to the cutting board. I'm changing adhesives to 3M 90 spray adh. & putting four screws on the corners of the board.

[wcpreston]

With a barrel smoker, one thing I'd watch out for is making it too high. The whole point of why jlazar and I built this thing is our only complaint of the G2 Chubby is it's firebox is on the ground. SO much easier now to put "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!"

But if you're doing a barrel smoker, you have the opposite. Just lift it off the ground enough to build the platform and put the wheels. 4" wheels, 3.5" 2x4s and 3/4" plywood or slats like I used. (I used fencing, which was really cheap.)

[wcpreston]

Hey jlazar, I made a "mod" today. We don't get much rain here in SoCal, but we've had it for three days straight -- and I had to cook today. Check out this "mod." LOL. That's a card table and two fence pieces, since the stand wasn't wide enough to hold the table.

[jlazar]

Looks good. I think you should build some type of permanent cover over your concrete slab. Would keep you and the smoker dry in the rain and out of the sun in the heat. As handy as you are, expect to see the pics in a couple of days.

Are you operating the Fireboard off the battery out there or do you have a power source?

[Black99vette]

Nice build! You built the first Chubby G2 Performer!

[klflowers]

Now I want a chubby. Just so I can build a table. Problem is I don't have any woodworking skills at all.

[tbob4]

Ditto!! Maybe we could build one together and put it in the Joke section. My wife says if I could sit/stand still for 2 minutes to follow directions I could be much more productive.

[Spinaker]

I know, I am really close to ordering one myself.

[klflowers]

tbob4, I like it. We could chronicle the journey as a years long, multi episode comedy. My daughter is a nurse, so she could step in every time we injure ourselves, as long as we don't lose any limbs...