~Backwoods Style Build

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I've got wheels for it..holes are drilled but I took thermometer, latches back off and left wheels off for the powder coating...way too heavy to be manhandling...I used 11 ga metal tubing and 16 ga. sheet metal...when I do next one I have decided to use thin wall tubing and 18 or 20 ga. sheet metal except for outer "skin"...the exterior skin basically does not get hot (or at least my Fatboy doesn't) and I will use the "colored" aluminum sheet metal they use on late models and stock cars..that way I dont have to powder coat exterior....and especially since the guy on ebay who mistakenly shipped me the 2" insulation told me to keep it cause return shipping would be more than it was worth to him having already paid for it to be shipped once, which will be double the insulation in this one so exterior shouldnt get hot at all....the 11 ga was a lil overkill I think...thin wall tubing is plenty stout enough for this...I'll just hafta compensate for the additional 1" of insulation in my layout...
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and happy I am.....worked perfectly....didnt add any water, opened drafts wide and let her run up over 350 for a couple hrs...added water, left door open to cool down...closed drafts to 1/2 open, held 225 consistently for over 5 hrs, all on 16 # of coals....

I'm in at just under $700....even with using 11 ga tubing and 16 ga sheet metal...which was totally unnecessary...thinwall and 20 ga would have been just as good IMHO and saved some bucks and weight....buying sheet metal and having it sheared at above wholesale was almost 50% of the total expenses.

Only drawback I have now is the weight...this thing is HEAVY...

2 thumbs up and THANKS to Sirchunks, where ever you are for the plans !!!
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I cooked on the other one mentioned in the thread and now 15 months later am in process of buying it.  Will update folks as I can but I do not get on here much.
 
Thanks msduckhunter for completing the build and you helpful comments  added to this thread.

I had checked Sirchunks thread (& Great Plans) some time back and it's great to see you continued on where he left.

I'm planning a build at present and will benefit from your valuable information.
 
smokinapple.....did you ever finish your build?

Comments?   Pictures?  How did it cook?
 
glad ya'll enjoyed...I've used it for 7 months now and only problem I've had was door gaskets coming off....a few rivets fixed that problem..It cooks flawlessly...I've got a second build in mind this spring but using scaled down plans...gonna make it about the same size as a Fatboy and use 2" of insulation instead of 1"...When I bought my insulation off ebay the seller sent me a roll of 2" instead of 1" ...when I called him he said it cost too much to ship back so just keep it .....aint gonna let it go to waste
 
Glad to see the plans have worked out well for everyone. It has been a few years since I have been on here. I have been using the pit for awhile now and it has been running great. I will try and get some pics posted of the finished grill soon.
 
We had a similar problem ended up using a tadpole gasket. You can place your screws through the tail portion nice clean look No glue.

Gary
 
Can anyone verify what kind of size (diameter) the lower vents (fire chamber) needs to be on this build? I´ve seen way bigger vents but they might have been that large because the builder didnt know what size to use and went with larger than necessary? I have the same design going and I am planning to use two 2" ball valves, one under fire and one above. And in the future I can hook up a fan in one of these.

 
Is it just me or all the pics dead now? I printed them like a year ago but can't find them now!
 
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