Horizon RD Special Marshall Smoke Stack Mod

[Dilla]

Thanks all, I almost feel like sending some of these pics to Horizon Smokers so they could see what their smokers should look like. I will be removing the Horizon badge on the door since I had such a bad experience buying this thing from them. Horrible workmanship, customer service, and about 5 months to get after ordering it. that's only half the story after I received it I had to send it back to them because it had leaks and gaps from 1/4" up to 1/2" around both the cooking chamber and firebox door. The original stainless shelf I ordered it with was the cheapest thing I had ever seen. It was maybe at most 1/16" paper thin and was just installed using double sided tape. It was 2 pieces and it had a seam. Just horrible, after spending roughly $2400 you would expect for everything to be just perfect Right? I am surprised at how highly rated this cooker is on this site and that's the reason I went with Horizon. Maybe I was just unlucky and some new guy that didn't know what he was doing built mine. Any way it is perfect now and I love it.

[Dilla]

Delicious!!

[Huskee]

I can't believe I missed this whole post from back in June! You did great on this, I love this post! Too bad you don't live near me I'd have you do this for me as I'm not much of a welder. Also I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience with Horizon, first I've heard of that. I tend to agree, maybe you got one from a new guy out of high school!

I keep thinking if I paint mine I'd paint it orange or school bus yellow with black, like DeWalt tools. Not sure...

[Dilla]

Yea good luck keeping it clean if you paint it one of those colors. Flat black is the way to go.

[Huskee]

Dilla I don't worry about keeping it clean, the action happens on the inside.

[Jon Solberg]

This is one sweet rig!

[mackdaddy]

That is a nice set up and mods. You could feed an army with that rig.

[Spinaker]

Dilla That thing is gorgeous!!!! I love the Stainless stack. How awesome did that feel after you made your welds and you didn't: A. You had your welding temp set correctly, and burn through any of the metal. B. And the stack came out level. This thing looks amazing!!! hats off to you sir. I can't believe I didn't see this thread before today. What a great display of workmanship. What did the folks at Horizon say after you sent this to them? It seems like this is more of a rebuild after all the problems you had in the past with these guys. Now she looks and runs better than ever. Awesome job man!!

[Dilla]

Yea thanks guys, no I didn't send Horizon any pics what can they say? they probably would't respond anyway. Its just too bad I had to spend $2,400 only to have to work on it and modify it to get it to do what it should have from the get go. Before the mods I had a real tough time keeping a small clean burning fire and so it was practically impossible to cook at lower temps. couldn't cook anything below 280-290* if I wanted a clean burn and blue smoke. Temperature control from one end to the other was way off, a lot hotter on the side of the stack. Even with all the adjustments of the convection plate and all the tips that Huskee and Jerod gave me I couldn't get it to run smooth. I think it was choking and struggling to get the smoke out (maybe that's why it had leaks everywhere when I first got it) haha! and probably causing the hot air/smoke to circle around the area of the small 4" diameter exhaust from the original smoke stack before getting out of the cooking chamber. Now that its opened up and the stack is much taller, it draws better helping keep a clean burning fire, the smoke gets right out and I can cook at 200, 225, 250, 275 whatever I want I've even taken it up to 325-350*. all I have to do now is worry about the size of the fire to hit my temps. Now its fun! Hee hee!

[JCBBQ]

This is incredible! At some point down the line i'd like to get a stick burner. What's the reasoning behind putting a chimney that is so much bigger than the original? How does that change what you cook?

[SoCalTim]

HI, I know this post is over a year old ... but, instead of emailing Horizon you could of just posted pictures on their Twitter & Facebook pages - with the problems you encountered and how YOU had to fix the smoker because of horrific customer service.

You did a great job on this smoker.

[Obi-Dan]

One thing I love about this site is the Zombie threads that pop up from time to time. That smoker is amazing. You should start your own mod company on the side.