ButtBurner is your middle section sitting on the outside or inside of your kettle ?, you have a thread were you posted it all ?
The more I cook and smoke, the more I enjoy Weber's products. The kettle grill is such a diverse tool when you spend some time learning the different techniques to do different styles of cooks. Maybe a WSM is in my near future...?
You will LOVE the WSM. But if you're on a budget, I would seriously endorse the smokenator attachment for the Weber Kettle, it's fantastic. You just need to watch the fuel carefully, you'll be adding a few coals even on a relatively short (4 hour) rib cook.
The WSM gives you the ability to run a 10+ hour cook without ever adding fuel, which is awesome. And of course has room for MOAR MEAT!
I would love to hear these different techniques. I just bought my first OTG gold. Also the first charcoal grill.
I personally wouldn't use the smokenator. You can use fire bricks to hold coals on 1 side of the kettle if you wanted. You can also use the ring of fire method to go 6-9 hours without having to reload coals.
Once you know how to use a kettle to its full potential, you will find that you do not need a few of the accessories, such as the smokenator.