Porkies, you will never wish you had a smaller smoker. The issue I have with the 18" WSM is that you have to be creative to fit ribs on it - you either have to cut the racks in half, or roll them up in creative fashions when using the grate. On the 22" WSM, you can lay 2 or 3 racks flat on each grate, or fit 5 or more on each grate using a Weber rib rack. Of course, if you get a hanging kit, that solves some issues and lets you cook PBC style hanging over the charcoal, but I think you will want to be able to cook ribs both ways.
For me, the WSM 22 would be about capacity for other items as well - large turkeys that might not fit a WSM 18 or PBC for example.
My thought is to get the WSM 22, use your Smoke (that is my current thermometer as well), and don't worry about the Fireboard until your budget can handle it later. You don't "need" the Fireboard, as the WSM will maintain temperatures overnight, and you have your Smoke ambient probe to monitor the pit temperature, and wake you up with an alarm if the fire does start dropping in temperature and you need to add charcoal. The Fireboard down the road will just make it even more set and forget than it is. Without the Fireboard, it will just take you a few cooks to learn the vent positions for different temperatures, just like I had to do with my kettle + SnS. I now know what top and bottom vent positions to use pretty much every time.
One last thing - you will want to try it different ways, and I know a lot of folks on here swear by going without the water pan, or with an empty water pan, but my past experience with vertical smokers and with the kettle+SnS (which has a small water reservoir) tells me that water in the water pan can in fact help stabilize the temperatures for long cooks, and maintain humidity in the cooker.
For me, the WSM 22 would be about capacity for other items as well - large turkeys that might not fit a WSM 18 or PBC for example.
My thought is to get the WSM 22, use your Smoke (that is my current thermometer as well), and don't worry about the Fireboard until your budget can handle it later. You don't "need" the Fireboard, as the WSM will maintain temperatures overnight, and you have your Smoke ambient probe to monitor the pit temperature, and wake you up with an alarm if the fire does start dropping in temperature and you need to add charcoal. The Fireboard down the road will just make it even more set and forget than it is. Without the Fireboard, it will just take you a few cooks to learn the vent positions for different temperatures, just like I had to do with my kettle + SnS. I now know what top and bottom vent positions to use pretty much every time.
One last thing - you will want to try it different ways, and I know a lot of folks on here swear by going without the water pan, or with an empty water pan, but my past experience with vertical smokers and with the kettle+SnS (which has a small water reservoir) tells me that water in the water pan can in fact help stabilize the temperatures for long cooks, and maintain humidity in the cooker.
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