[JayBirde]

Just thought I would update you guys on the progress...been so busy this year competing & starting a local BBQ Association!

So in our first sanctioned competition (Smokin' The Coeur d'Alenes - June 2010, Coeur d'Alene, ID - PNWBA) we placed 12th overall out of 29 teams. Our best score was Pork Butt (7th place). We didn't walk, but we learned a GREAT DEAL about competing!! We have done about 5 cooks this first year of competition and I believe we will see some major leaps and bounds in our progress this next season.

As for the smoker.....it works better than I could have ever hoped and alot of the credit for some of the design math goes to the Brethren (couldn't have done it without you). The tap handle doesn't get hot enough to worry about (even after smoking for 2 days straight). I ended up building a start assist fueled by propane to get the wood going (Didn't want to use a weed burner like others) and even put an electronic ignition system on it. Wood consumption is average for a stick burner of this size. I am working on a homebrew stoker that will allow me to wirelessly monitor my meat temps and smoker temps and cycle the stoker fan on and off to maintain temperature and all be done wirelessly to my laptop or phone. The stoker controller has a built in webserver and can also send my messages by Twitter or Text. Will let you know how that goes. (just trying to improve efficiency of my smoker).

We DID end up adding a swing out grill behind the pit. It is made of a 35 gallon well expansion tank (to keep up the theme). I put charcoal and wood in it and use it as a pseudo Santa Maria. I am working on the frame for the sink cabinet right now (smoker is in storage for the winter) and will be adding a double sink with faucet and a small (24"x24") countertop area to the right of the sinks (This will also double as the cover for my small refrigerator. I am going to add a water storage tank under the sink and a gray water tank under the trailer (for the drain).

I decided not to use the hot water coil I built into the pit as I would still need a storage tank and a circulating pump on the trailer and space is limited. Eccotemp.com has a tankless water heater (Model L5) that costs $117 on Amazon with free shipping and runs on Propane, comes with hose and regulator, heats water from 80 to 150 degrees and runs up to 18 hours continuously on on BBQ propane tank. The water connections are standard 1/2" Plumbing connectors and it even comes with a hand held shower head. Ignition is taken care of by 2 "D" size batteries and only occurs when there is a demand for hot water. I am going to mount this to the side of my sink cabinet that faces the rear.

I will post some new pics soon as the trailer has been painted several times already (one guy at a comp. said, "Do you paint that rig for every competition?" I just smiled and said, "Why YES I DO!"). We have also painted our logo on the smoker door. I plan on adding frenched tail lights with diamond plate flame cutouts and airbrushing some flames down the sides of the trailer. I am also going to have my logo laser cut out of diamond plate with 1" Standoffs so I can mount it to the rear of the pit (So everyone knows who is in front of them while underway).
We have had many requests to build a pit "exactly" like this one, but so far nobody has come up with the money yet!!

Anyways, thanks again to all the GREAT BRETHREN on this site! Couldn't have done it without you. Hope to see you on the trail......JayBirde