I've been watching this thread since yesterday. When I saw the 8 AM start time and the chamber temp for a 9 lb butt, my internal clock knew it was going to be a great day of smoking experience. I'm down the road from you in Roseville and 40F is nothing to worry about. I've smoked well below that in my
WSM. Wind, on the other hand, that's an issue, but we just had light winds yesterday. The foothills, where you are, get different winds than we do (Delta breezes) but that doesn't appear to be an issue.
16 hours for a 9 lb butt "bonded and tied" is pretty normal at the chamber temps you were using, although that is a little long for a wrapped butt. Once you wrapped it, you could have bumped the chamber temp way up to save time. Butts don't care about chamber temps. I do mine overnight at 225F (no meat probe) so I can sleep, then bump it WAAAY up in the morning (300F+) to finish after I wake up. I don't bother wrapping nowadays, but I used to.
You hit the nail on the head about the salty meat. 14 oz is a LOT, especially for the time it was dry brined. I usually do two 9 to 10 lb'ers at a time and use maybe 6-8 oz. The butts I buy are Hormel and they are enhanced so they require no dry brining. The boneless butts from Costco are not enhanced, so dry brining does enhance the flavor, but I'd still use less.
One of the greatest disservices the television personalities have done for the smoking community is they always show the rub being piled on anything they smoke. I want to taste the meat, not the rub. Less is more, IMO, but your 16 hours were great for lessons.