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Old 12-18-2018, 03:45 PM   #2
SmoothBoarBBQ
is One Chatty Farker
 
Join Date: 02-25-17
Location: Killeen, TX
Name/Nickname : Donnie
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I'd stay away from a griddle unless your menu explicitly needs it. Same goes for the fryer...dealing with hot grease on a moving trailer can be a nightmare. Not to mention the excess heat which comes from the fryer and the griddle.

You haven't mentioned a generator yet...with a trailer of that size, and all of that equipment, as well as an electrical smoker, you're going to be drawing approximately 10,000 watts. So that's a hefty expense that you need to make sure you're calculating for your budget.

All of my equipment is propane powered including the smokers (with fireboxes for wood / charcoal), the warming box, and the tankless hot water heater. I have a small inverter generator to run the water pump and the refrigerator. Personally I would go with all propane equipment because it's fast, easy, and cheaper overall. Plus, with the aid of some coolers, you can still run your entire operation on propane if there is a big power outage. We got hit with a big hurricane this year and I was still busting out BBQ and feeding half of my street for almost a whole week during the outage.

As for a smoker I had my eye on a CTO-DW and was VERY close to buying one, but I ended up going with a MUCH cheaper "hog style" smoker because the cost of the CTO was just too high. They quoted me right at about $10K for it, and while it's certainly worth it, it was just to high for a "starter trailer." Also, I did the weights and balances, and the CTO-DW comes in at roughly 1700 Lbs. My trailer has (2) 3500Lb axles, so having that kind of weight on the rear end of the trailer with nothing to balance it out up front was giving it a huge tongue weight.

Just some food for thought. Here's a small album of how my trailer is setup. This is from when I first picked it up, and I did add some shelves directly across from the refrigerator.
https://imgur.com/a/4z4Rppj

Hope this helps and feel free to shoot me a message. I've only been doing this for a few months, but it took me almost a year of trying to get everything organized to get started. I had a very challenging time dealing with the health department because nobody, and I mean NOBODY, knew what kind of equipment / setup would be necessary to get permitted. They kept repeating their mantra ; "Just buy the trailer and we'll let you know if it can be permitted." Unreal how frustrating and useless they were.

Good luck with everything and hope it works out!
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