Happy Friday evening, Friends!
Just sitting here sipping on a cocktail and thought I'd make a quick update. I'm making decent progress on the main CC assembly, and approaching the time when I'll be ready to weld the 2 boxes together and get it on a cart.
So I think the last step I posted was working on the cooking racks and the rack rails. Well the rails are all welded in place, and I finished fabricating all four cooking racks.
I think I mentioned the dimensions of each rack - they're each 26 1/2" wide and 23 1/2" deep. A total of almost 2500 sq. inches of cooking space.
So I've also been working on a coal basket to put in the bottom of the CC so Jim can do direct fire cooking. I want to thank
civilsmoker
for that inspiration - his suggestion, and a good one! IMO this is gonna make this cooker more versatile than most stick burner pits. At first I was trying to design a drop-in coal grate that would drop directly into the water/ash pan. But because of clearance challenges, Jim and I decided to change it up a little. He'll remove the bottom cooking grate, and replace it with a slide-in coal basket...which still gives him 3 large cooking racks for direct cooking.
Anyway, I got that finished up this afternoon. Pretty pleased with how it turned out.
Taking the day off tomorrow to spend the day with our boys, their wives and the grandkids. But the CC assembly is nearing completion. Still have to fabricate the CC door assembly - hinges, handle, latches, door flange. I'll probably work on that next time I'm in the shop. Then it'll be about time to put it all together!
Hope all ya'll have a great weekend! I hope I'll have another progress update by sometime next week.
Thanks for looking,
Red