JayBirde
04-13-2010, 06:27 PM
Hello Fellow BBQers!! I'm fairly new around here and figured I would post some pictures of our current project and maybe get a little insight as well. We are building a trailer-mounted smoker currently for competition/catering use. We have never competed before but are very excited to start. Our team has picked up several sponsorships already and we have 2 events on our schedule right now.
Now, on to the trailer.....I had an old tent trailer frame donated to our team that was stripped down to the frame. We put sheets of 1/4" plate steel (also donated) starting at the front of the trailer and ending 14" from the rear bumper. There is 8" from the sides of the trailer to the plate steel down both sides. We are going to fill in these spaces with steel diamond plate. We will also have diamond plate fenders over the wheels.
I have a real nice Kuma woodstove (also donated) for our firebox. We plan on cutting a hole in the right hand side of the woodstove and a matching hole in the bottom left hand side of the oil tank we are using for our smoker body and welding the two together. This is going to be a reverse flow smoker. Above the hole in the smoker body will be our smoke baffle with 2" tall sides (so that we can pour water on top of the smoke baffle to add moisture). We will pitch the smoke baffle slightly to the left (thinking 1/4" per foot) and put in a ball valve on the outside for a drain. We also plan on putting a 1" ball valve drain on the bottom of the smoker so that it can be washed out from time to time and drained. We are going to use expanded steel and square stock for our shelves and make them two-piece so that they can be removed easily. The damper will be cut into the front of the firebox door to control the airflow. We still need to come up with the calculation for the gap between the smoke baffle and the side of the smoker body (if anyone can help it would be appreciated).
Another thought I had was to put a hot water coil in the back of the firebox with a piece of expanded steel in front of it to protect it from logs, etc. I could put a hose fitting through the side of the trailer with a tee directly behind it to send water to
The cold water side of the sink
To the hot water coil in the firebox, out of the firebox and into the hot water side of the sink
Let me know what you think about this idea, please.
Here are some pictures from last Sunday. We cut the tank on Sunday and burned a nice hot fire in it for almost 10 hours to get any oil residue out of the tank. I don't believe the tank ever had fuel oil (didn't smell like it). Only had some black sawdust looking stuff in the bottom (and very little at that). Word of warning: :cop: When I went to cut the door, my original plan was to just cut the top all the way through, then weld on my hinges and then cut the rest out....but....when they built this tank they must have started with a piece of steel laid on the top, tack welded it and then bent it around a little and welded again (over & over). When I went to cut the door, the radius had massive pressure on it. If you look closely at the top of the door cut-out you can see how wavy it is. I plan on clamping a thick piece of angle iron on the top inside and welding, move the clamp down a little further, weld again, etc. until the top edge is straight again.
Now, on to the trailer.....I had an old tent trailer frame donated to our team that was stripped down to the frame. We put sheets of 1/4" plate steel (also donated) starting at the front of the trailer and ending 14" from the rear bumper. There is 8" from the sides of the trailer to the plate steel down both sides. We are going to fill in these spaces with steel diamond plate. We will also have diamond plate fenders over the wheels.
I have a real nice Kuma woodstove (also donated) for our firebox. We plan on cutting a hole in the right hand side of the woodstove and a matching hole in the bottom left hand side of the oil tank we are using for our smoker body and welding the two together. This is going to be a reverse flow smoker. Above the hole in the smoker body will be our smoke baffle with 2" tall sides (so that we can pour water on top of the smoke baffle to add moisture). We will pitch the smoke baffle slightly to the left (thinking 1/4" per foot) and put in a ball valve on the outside for a drain. We also plan on putting a 1" ball valve drain on the bottom of the smoker so that it can be washed out from time to time and drained. We are going to use expanded steel and square stock for our shelves and make them two-piece so that they can be removed easily. The damper will be cut into the front of the firebox door to control the airflow. We still need to come up with the calculation for the gap between the smoke baffle and the side of the smoker body (if anyone can help it would be appreciated).
Another thought I had was to put a hot water coil in the back of the firebox with a piece of expanded steel in front of it to protect it from logs, etc. I could put a hose fitting through the side of the trailer with a tee directly behind it to send water to
The cold water side of the sink
To the hot water coil in the firebox, out of the firebox and into the hot water side of the sink
Let me know what you think about this idea, please.
Here are some pictures from last Sunday. We cut the tank on Sunday and burned a nice hot fire in it for almost 10 hours to get any oil residue out of the tank. I don't believe the tank ever had fuel oil (didn't smell like it). Only had some black sawdust looking stuff in the bottom (and very little at that). Word of warning: :cop: When I went to cut the door, my original plan was to just cut the top all the way through, then weld on my hinges and then cut the rest out....but....when they built this tank they must have started with a piece of steel laid on the top, tack welded it and then bent it around a little and welded again (over & over). When I went to cut the door, the radius had massive pressure on it. If you look closely at the top of the door cut-out you can see how wavy it is. I plan on clamping a thick piece of angle iron on the top inside and welding, move the clamp down a little further, weld again, etc. until the top edge is straight again.