Looking Great "Dog" Just bare with it, It all takes time and we never have enough! 
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Haven't been following much, but just read the whole post. I love this, back in the "mr.T" part I was thinking about the movie Das Boot, all the creaking and pressure on that sub hull. Can't wait to see the finished project!!!Comment
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So I went out and spent the whole day yesterday getting it ready for attachment. I cut out the end cap, had to pull the tank back and forth to work on and out to the gantry to try to line up the firebox - probably 10-15x overall, along with cutting out supports for the back of the firebox onto the end of the trailer, lots of cutting and fitting, etc., etc.
Ground down some spots to get clean metal, it was starting to get dark, so I decided to hold off welding it all up until today.
Today I went out to try to get it all aligned and nothing was working, couldn't get things lined up properly, last night I had it ready, or so it seemed - today, NOTHING would line up, my straps to suspend it from the gantry and try to get the firebox properly aligned with the tank, etc., etc., etc.
I dunno, maybe the temperature was 15 degrees cooler and the tank shrunk. Or the firebox swelled. Or the gantry shifted or bent or warped or maybe the Earth flattened more than it already is.
I don't know...
After an hour and half of trying to get things to line up and hold in place, I put it all away and left.
It's not been a good day, for lots of reasons. Maybe I'll go back out someday, maybe I'll let it all sit and rust into a pile. Who knows.Comment
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yeah, I'll get there. Just... things have piled up on me this last week or two...
<sigh> Got so many things juggling and rough-to-possibly-bad news on the business horizon, plus 2 we're trying to support in college and organizations which promised scholarships haven't come through yet - with tuition payments DUE. Still waiting on $6k mostly from the American Legion, and that was from a year and half ago! Sheesh.
Auto repairs - piling up and up, and that's just for one of the kids' cars, all the sh** I have to do to MINE just has to WAIT.
I was hoping to lose my troubles in fabrication for a while with the easing of the heat outside, but things just aren't going well this week.
Oh yeah, and my son nearly got himself SHOT this morning coming in from college at 0512hrs on a SUNDAY MORNING without letting us know he was coming - because his phone suddenly broke, so... that's another thing to replace. <sigh>
Damn, I need a drink, right about NOW.Comment
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Don't fret, you didn't have to watch me stick weld today. I swear someone could get a 5 year old and in 2 minutes have them laying 6011 down waaaaaaaaay better than me. -
I almost broke out the stick welding the other day. Then I decided I didn't want to go to the trouble of changing out the electrode, refeeding MIG wire later, etc.
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Not a million degrees outside these days, so it's time to get back to work on our big project!
Fabbed up some counterweights for the doors.
Pleased with how they came out, overall.
Decided to bring The Wife out to show her how to do some mig and worked on a little bit of door trim one night this week.
Then yesterday it was time to finally get the firebox hung! Waited MONTHS to do this!
We ran a little 7018 stick for the first time to get it tacked in place in the wind outside.
Then pulled it into the shop to get back on the mig and get it welded in solid.
Today we'll be working on get it fully welded in and solidly mounted.
It's starting to look like a real smoker, finally! 320-gallon cook chamber, about 100 gallon or so firebox with a big ol' flat top to cook on, as well!
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Looking good. Glad to see you back at it.Comment
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Some of my more recent welds. Not the greatest pics, I'll try to clean them up and get some more.
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I love this project! So cool sitting on an olβ Glastron trailer! I donβt remember if you said if you will powder the entire thing, or just keep the current color/look?
either way, love this!Comment
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Well, it's getting close now....
Got the collector and stack put on, that was a chore. This weekend welded that up, then finished trimming out the doors and build the lower racks and got them installed.
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Need to do upper racks (tonight?).
Door and firebox handles.
Firebox pinwheel damper.
Patch the 6.5" hole in the top of the tank.
Build an exterior shelf.
Then... linseed oil and fire it up!
Unfortunately I have to travel to Palm Beach, FL this weekend for a conference (dangit!), so it'll prolly be 2 weeks before it's completely finished and ready to cook on. Unless I get REALLY industrious in my evenings. lol
It's gettin' there...Comment
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This build is so freaking cool!!Comment
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Man that beast will cook a TON of food! Letβs eat!!!!!!!
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Yeah I'm thinking it would likely do 30-40 briskets once I get the second tier of racks in, if we were to fit things in properly. I can't imagine EVER wanting to do THAT much BBQ, though! lol
Maybe 20 or 30 pork butts would be a possibility some day, however... I've got a couple large rib racks, I could do nearly 40 racks of ribs, too. Now THAT I could see!
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A rotisserie would be awesome.Comment
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Now, that's some real progress and a great fab job. Iβm still impressed at all the myriad skills AR Pit members display.Comment
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Those tacks look bad to the bone!!Comment
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Looks great DogFaced PonySoldier !
And on your comment above about never imagining doing 30-40 briskets... I did 84 butts once using 2 rental reverse flow (trailer mounted) plus my little offset to handle them all, and swore off smoking for several years! It was an 18-20 hour ordeal that left me smelling like smoke, and with my hair encrusted with so much grease from the smoke and exhaust that I had to wash my hair several times. This is back when I had hair...
So my advice is to only fire this up for crazy amounts of food if you got folks already committed to paying for all that meat, like we did for that Boston butt fundraiser.
I guess you will have to put some angle iron or something inside to have a track to slide an upper level of cooking into?
Oh - and don't forget its not a boat, and back it down the local boat ramp... I think some shelving of some sort could be handy on that, as if you DO take it somewhere, you may want to haul the cooking wood on the pit trailer.Comment
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Yes, I'll be heading out to the shop in a few minutes (I hope!) and the plan tonight is probably to measure, cut and weld in the sliding rails for top racks, and maybe start building the top racks. That's several hours' worth of work, so I doubt I'll get it all done tonight. Unless I'm super industrious, but even so, I've only got about 2 hours of daylight, so... doubtful.
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