120 Gallon Tank Build (lots of pics)

Even though this cooker is being designed as a patio cooker I am seriously considering buying a small utility trailer to make it easier to move. Any thoughts?

After much deliberation I have decided to upgrade the caster wheels on my cooker. I had been thinking about putting it on a small trailer, but for the time being I am just going to put on some heavy duty casters and winch it onto my trailer if I need to.

I have been doing a lot of cooking on it to make sure it performs the way I was hoping! So far it has been better than I could have hoped, one of the only modifications that I am going to make is to add a sliding rack in the firebox so I can broil steaks, burgers, etc... for reverse searing!

I'm not sure what is going on with our weather, but someone granted us a winter reprieve this year so I think i may get out the grinder this week and get this thing ready to for paint.

I finally got around to some of the adjustments that I wanted to do before sandblasting and painting.

Here I have intalled my new wheels. Those tiny caster I had on before were not going to cut it! At some point in the future, this cooker will likely be on a trailer so I have just bolted the the wheels to plates that are welded on the legs.


Added some utensil pegs to one of the shelf supports.


And finally, I welded in a temp. probe holder. For me this is an upgrade over setting the temp probe on the the actual cooking grates, as it seems like the probe is always in the way.


Still not sure when I will get around to painting this baby, as soon as I opened my mouth about having nice weather we are returning to our normal highs in the mid 20's, going to have be warmer than that for me to paint it. No point in having the sandblasting done until immediately prior to painting so I am holding out for the weather! No big deal though, just gives me more time to see if there are any additional upgrades/alterations I should make.

Bluehawg said:

Hey man, those weld beads are looking great! I have a question though. I haven't ever made a grill/smoker with a port to be able to put in meat probe cables/wires but think I may want to on this one. How exactly did you make the port? Did you just drill a hole for the wires to pass through or did you use a grommet or something to keep smoke and all from leaking out? I know I can drill out a spot and weld a pipe nipple fitting in order to mount my thermometers but I want to be able to use a maverick without the thing leaking smoke everywhere.... OR, would that even matter?

Inquiring minds need to know.

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Blue,

I just drill holes and feed my probe wires through them! I drill the hole just big enough to get two probes in the same hole, by the that time there isn't much space left for smoke/hot air to get out.

By the way, that fundraiser trailer looks mighty nice! Maybe the kids should build another one to put your cooker on and donate it to you for being such a swell teacher!

I decided to wire wheel this cooker myself and save that money for another toy that I want to buy! I am sure the finish would have turned out nicer had I went the sand blasting route, but all the little add-ons have me very near the end of the budget!

Here I have a couple of coats of hi-temp paint on and I am getting ready to make my door gasket. On my last cooker I tried putting vaseline on all surfaces that I didn't want the hi-temp silicone to stick to; needless to say, it didn't work that great for me. So this time I just taped some wax paper to the surfaces that I did not want the silicone to adhere to:


Same thing on the firebox door


Then I ran a pretty good bead of the silicone on the back side of the door edging and closed the lid. I got a nice even ooze coming out around all edges, which is what I was looking for. I'll let it setup for 3-4 days and then i'll take a utility knife and cut it flush with the edge of the door edging.


Oh yeah, I didn't mess around the stuff that comes in the small tubes! I bought a regular sized caulking tube of it. Wow, was that so much easier to work with!

Well she ain't gonna be the prettiest pit out there but it is an improvement over the last one and maybe when it's time to refinish I'll have the dough to spring for the sand blasting!

Next up, I have to add on the BLING!

mr dirts bbq said:

good idea with the caulk, im assuming the caulking is high temp gasket sealer for motors? or something along those lines? or am i retarded

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Yeah, hi-temp gasket maker!

colonel00 said:

Lookin' good :thumb: Screw the bling and fire that sucker up :becky:

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Oh, it has been fired up at least ten times since it was done enough to cook on! I won't be able to open the doors for 3-4 days anyway, I put on a pretty thick bead of gasket maker so it will take a while to cure.

I'll have the time to paint on my silhouettes and finish fabricating the basket that I decided to make for the firebox.