150 Gallon RF Trailer build...The build continues...

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Here is a closer look at a few other items on this build that I have yet to cover in this thread (some may be posted on other threads, I apologize if I have repeated any).  Grease drain, 1" black iron pipe welded in through bottom of the tank from the bottom of the RF plate.  1" ball valve with 90 degree for easy release of the grease into my bucket (not pictured).  I had to 90 out the drain due to where the feet fell on my tank also coincided with where my drain came out.  The other pic is of the anti-tip angles for my grates.  I still am debating on drilling holes on the ends of the angle and putting removeable pins so that you can't pull the grates all the way out without removing the pins.  I guess if I ever loan out my pit, I need to do that before someone else makes that terrible mistake of yanking the grate and all it's goodness completely out of the pit.  That would suck. 

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Great build you have there Bruno. An idea for your grate anti-tip plates (and I "borrowed" this idea from a buddy of mine) -drill and tap your plates and screw in a winged screw. You can adjust the depth of the winged screw to lock the grate down when traveling, raise it up a bit more to catch the back edge of the grate to prevent it from coming out or raise it up further or remove it to remove the grate from the smoker. My buddy's idea for using the winged screw is he could raise or lower it if needs be while wearing his leather (welding) cooking gloves. Also, he used 1 X 1 X 1/8 inch angle with one side cut down to 3/4 inch that is tacked to the rails. The extra width on top allowed him to use a larger winged screw-IIRC his winged screw is 5/16 or 3/8 X 1 inch.
 
Thanks Dutch, for the compliment and the idea on the stop.  Being that mine are 1/8" steel, I might need to drill my hole, then weld a nut on top of that.  Thanks for passing that on.
 
Completed a few more tasks this past week in my continuing effort to finish my build.  Number 1 was the modification I mentioned in my previous post (temporary, if it works, it will be a permanent mod) to my charcoal / wood basket.  I wired in a divider to take 1/3 area out of the bottom of my box.  The basket itself is 21" deep x 20" wide X 16" high.  I put the divider in to make the depth 14".  I just have it wired in for now, since I did not get a practice run this past weekend, my next cook on it will be in a comp this weekend.  This way if it seems to not be allowing me enough heat, I can simply pull the basket out, undo the wire and get back to cooking fairly easy enough.  Heat should not be a problem though.

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Make sure to update on how this mod turns out.  I've got a smaller scale version of the same problem on my Chargriller Smokin' Pro.  I built a pretty big basket in my SFB and on my Easter smoke I felt like my coal could have lasted longer than it did.  I've been thinking about this exact mod, only I was thinking about cordoning off the part closest to the cooking chamber, and using it as a starting point for modified MM.  With the air flowing against the direction the fire wants to go, I think that could produce longer burns.

Anyway, I'll be curious to know how much of a difference it makes to have your fire in a more compact area.

Solid work on the smoker, BTW.  One day I'm going to do something like this.  Some day....
 
You are most welcome. I was planning on doing just what you're talking about; drilling a hole and welding a nut on top. It would provide more threads to screw into without fear of stripping out the threads tapped into 1/8" steel.
 
Lucky 13, maybe Santa will take care of you.  I think this one is my Fathers Day present and birthday wrapped up into one big package.  ThsMormonSmokes, yeah, I think you and I have similiar baskets for our Chargrillers.  Mine is 6" deep x 12" wide x 12" long.  I fill it about halfway with charcoal, 1/2 lit chimney on top, then feed it with wood chunks and usually get about 6 hours before all the coals from the charcoal are gone. 
 
Here is a shot of my propane tank cage and the burner mounted onto the front of the trailer.  Mainly I will be using this burner for my charcoal chimney, but I'm sure it will see it's fair share of time warming up water while cleaning at comps, heating sauces (although the uninsulated firebox does this superbly!), and any other cooking, frying or boiling duties needed.  To the left of the burner is my cooler rack.  I can put three 50 quart coolers on the deck of the rack.  I recently bought 3 of the Coleman Extreme 5, 50 quart coolers.  During comps, I use one for meat (raw on the way to comp on ice, then after I have put on all the raw meat, I give it a good rinse and use it to cooler briskets, butts, leftovers, etc.  The second cooler is for drinks, snacks, other food.  The third one is for clean ice, to use in your drinks or to use to repack the drinks.  They claim they keep ice for 5 days at 90 degrees outside temp, I disagree.  I decided not to build a cage like the back of the trailer because I felt like it would congest the area.  Once I reach my destination I can pull the coolers off and use the area as an eating table.  Sitting in lawn chairs, it's the perfect height to set your cold beverage or plate of Q. 

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Here is a good side shot showing the rig, nearly complete.  Really the last item I need to do, is something with the open area on the opposite end of my wood storage box.  Thinking on a sink / prep area.  I need to go talk to a few sheet metal companies to get bids on a 21 1/2" x 39 1/2" stainless top with a 16 x 16 sink or something close to that in size.  That size would drop right in

perfectly.  I used 3" thermometers for the bottom rack and a 2" for the top rack.  All 3 were are River Country brand and were boil tested prior to installation.  They are really more for show than tell.  I use my Maverick ET-732 in the center of the bottom rack to monitor temps (about 20 degrees hotter in center of the rack than at the door).   

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Shot of the damper on the stack.  Simple and easy, 1/4" rod, bent at 90 degrees on both ends, ran through 1/4" black iron nipples.  Top welded to the 6 1/2" plate, the bottom welded to cool touch handle (or chipping hammer handle, whichever sounds cooler). 

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Whooooaaa!!! Sweet Bruno!!! Nice to see another awesome smoker build with the same tank I have.

Great job on the build and thanks for some new ideas. Heres a pic of mine .....hoping to get to it sometime this summer.

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Good luck on your competitions!

SOB
 
SmokingOhioButcher thats where I started, an old tank in need of a new home.  Looking good.  Good luck on your build and feel free to ask any questions at all.  I'm not as tech savvy about the RF build as SolarYellow, he is the man.  But I'll answer whatever I can. 

Well, I had 3 cookoffs within 40 miles of me this weekend and all of them were a bust.  None had more than 4 teams in them, so I opted to stay at home and cook, swim and just relax.  Plus sleeping in my own bed Friday night was alot better than a tent or a zero gravity chair under my EZ-Up.  I did get to experiment with the modified charcoal basket, cut down from 20 x 21 to 20 x 14.  I did get about 5-6" depth of charcoal compared to 3" with a 20# bag of Kingsford blue, but didn't see any real change in burn time on the coals.  It worked fine, no problems with heat or controlling, just didn't gain any cook time.

  So...here are a few pics, one of a couple racks of ribs, with my glaze I have been working on (still not where I want it to be, but better) and a pic of my little helper (Evan), using my cooler deck as his own personal oasis, strawbossing his Dad.  Along with the ribs, I also did a couple halved chickens and 3 briskets, 1 for dinner today and tomorrow, 1 for the freezer, and Dad wanted one smoked for him.  Good smoke ring, juicy and tender.  Burgers and link sausages were thrown on as well at different times, should be able to eat off todays cook for the next 3 or 4 days. 

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It's been a few months since I have made any improvements or additions to my rig and with a comp coming up, it was time.  First of all I added a cover for my propane burner, to protect it from rain and the elements while just sitting in the yard.  I added a bit of paint work on it to show my Texas pride...


After that I added a spare tire holder (instead of having to throw the spare in the bed of the truck all the time), $19.99 off ebay along with the cover (to show off my American pride) for $8.99 also off ebay....on the other side is my water hose rack, made from some spare parts left over from several other jobs and the trailer when it was a boat trailer in the beginning...


My original plans were to add a sink and water supply on the trailer to make going to comps easier and more convienent, so...I used an old bladder type tank off my water well as my fresh water supply (bladder ruptured years ago, if you had one with a good bladder, a pump might not be necessary) and an old plastic tank off a spot sprayer for the grey water.  I plumbed in a water spigot to back fill my fresh water tank from a garden hose, then a valve to shut off the water supply to the pump.  I used a 12 volt RV Flo- Jet water pump, also from ebay, $37.99 plus shipping to pump water from the tank to the sink.  By the end of the year, I will be replacing both tanks with 16 gallon RV / concession plastic water storage tanks, $32.95 plus shipping on ebay.  The sink is a 15 x 15 bar sink, came with the strainer and faucet for $99.99 at Home Depot.  Not big enough to do any large washing duties, but excellent for washing hands, knives, small pots, etc.  Also by the end of the year, I plan on having the countertop around the sink wrapped in stainless sheet metal, for looks and durability. 



Last weekend, I repainted the entire pit with Rustoleum High Heat black (I originally painted it with the same stuff back in March), it just wasn't looking that good anymore, when I had painted it the first time, I was under some time constraints and a deadline, so I only put 1 coat on the entire thing.  This time I started by reapplying Ospho to the firebox, then sprayed 2 coats on the entire pit, then the next day heated the pit up to about 200 degrees, while it was heating up, I was steadily wiping it down with canola oil, from the firebox to the exhaust (trying to season the outside like a cast iron skillet).  After my first cook on it this past weekend following the repainting and oiling, everything seems to have held up really well.  I did not get to reapply oil this past weekend as I was more worried about making my turn ins.  I will be heating and oiling this weekend.


The axle needs to be moved forward about a foot or so, due to the added weight of the water (15 gallons).  I had alot of flexing in the trailer on the 80 mile trek to the comp, of course I had 3 coolers full of ice, meat and supplies on the cooler rack in front as well, probably another 50 pounds each.  I would travel without the water tank full, but some places don't have water access for me to fill on site.
 
I may have to add a second one after my next round of additions, but after tires and the axl, I'm looking at another $300 plus, so I may hold off for awhile.  I'll have more $ into thr trailer than I do the entire pit, burners and sink!  Let's just say I never make fun of my wifes' shopping habits.  My other hobby away from Q is golf.  Neither are cheap hobbies unfortunately.
 
Great looking build...

One day I will be able to get back to building my Trailer Rig. I am using an old bass boat trailer for mine. Looks very similar to yours. Is there a reason you added the cross member beams and did not remove the old ones? I was thinking of using the existing ones and just using different Length risers to mount the tank and storage areas. I also noticed you have the smoker set far back on the trailer with the fire box extending past the back. I was thinking of mounting mine so the fire box was flush with the back of the trailer and attaching a cross beam to tie in the fire box to the trailer as well. Part of my reasoning is my axles are not movable at this time, I will make them if needed in the future. Do you think this would help with the flexing of the trailer you mentioned in your other thread? 

Thank you for your time and input.

Jeramy
 
Great looking build...

One day I will be able to get back to building my Trailer Rig. I am using an old bass boat trailer for mine. Looks very similar to yours. Is there a reason you added the cross member beams and did not remove the old ones? I was thinking of using the existing ones and just using different Length risers to mount the tank and storage areas. I also noticed you have the smoker set far back on the trailer with the fire box extending past the back. I was thinking of mounting mine so the fire box was flush with the back of the trailer and attaching a cross beam to tie in the fire box to the trailer as well. Part of my reasoning is my axles are not movable at this time, I will make them if needed in the future. Do you think this would help with the flexing of the trailer you mentioned in your other thread? 

Thank you for your time and input.

Jeramy
There was no immediate need to remove the existing cross beams, so I just left them on.  I added the 1/4 x 3 x 3 angle for 2 reasons, it was alot easier to mount to a flush piece instead of different heights, and it gave me a very solid foundation.  I wish I would have kept the firebox inboard as you mention (inside the length of the trailer), you can do it either way.  It works for me, but it would probably work out better inboard.  Also if your using a boat trailer, cut off the additional tongue and reattach the hitch or replace it ($24 at Wal-Mart or Tractor Supply) and try and mount the pit where the axle will fall a few feet ahead of the firebox. 
 
Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it. I looked at the trailer after I posted earlier. Not much room to shorten the tongue. I will keep in mind about the mounting. It may come down to cost and or availability of materials.
 
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