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(More customer reviews)I never buy anything like this that doesn't require "modification". This was no exception. The box arrived destroyed. It had been wrapped in plastic wrap to hold it togethor. The delivery guy understood however that I wanted to check it out before I accepted it so he and I tore it apart to see if there was any damage. Amazingly, all the parts were there and there wasn't a scratch. Unreal considering the condition of the box but I will count my luck. Assembly -the firebox comes in two pieces (top/bottom). One of the holes didn't align at all (front left if looking down inside the top door)and I had to re-drill it. No big deal. The washers are entirely too small in the firebox as well and will press right through the holes here as you tighten them up.....so I put larger more substantial washers all the way around the inside of the fire box. The bolts for the firebox are realllllly looooowwwww grade and soft metal as well. Since the firebox flanges don't fit well togethor (ultimately leaving about 1/4 inch gap between top and bottom halves), it would be good if you could tighten it down all the way around to close the gap a bit......but the bolts are too cheap and will shear before you get there. If I had known this before getting most of them in, I would have replaced all of them with higher grade bolt, nuts and washers. Not sure why for $607 they couldn't spend another $8 for proper hardware here? The 1/4 inch gap is not a big deal however because it is in the firebox and allows a bit of air into the combustion chamber. If it were in the cooking chamber it would not be good. The other piece that had to be modified was the temp guage hole. It simply wasn't big enough for the temp guage to fit....so it had to be bored out before it fit snugly through the hole. (again, not a big deal). Smoking- the fire box is good sized and got proper air flow (this is the absolute biggest and most important piece with these things). It could use a grate at the bottom that has smaller openings so it will hold charcoal (the charcoal slides right through it as it is). I will be fabricating a tighter screen to place on top of the current grate (which shouldn't be difficult). I ultimately used a mixture of charcoal and wood for the fire. This will take a bit of study as I go to get the mixture right but I feel I was on the right path. The unit does leak around the main door just a bit, but again, it appears maintaining temp is not going to be too difficult because of the large firebox and proper openings for air in/out. All of offset smokers leak air to some extent. As with all offset smokers, this one could also use a convection plate that carries the heat further down towards the center of the cooking chamber instead of most of the heat coming up on the right side where the firepit hole is. I will be fabricating one of these as well (again- shouldn't be difficult). I also wish the smokestack entered the cooking chamber down near the cooking grates. This would help force the heat and smoke to exit at a lower level (thereby smoking/cooking the meat better). The tendancy with exit holes this high is that the heat goes straight up, then over to the exit, bypassing the meat to some extent. I have only seen one offset smoker that got this point right however. I will maybe see if I can fabricate an exension of the pipe inside the smoker to lower its entry point. I see all of these things as items that I would have to do to almost every offset smoker out there btw. It did smoke a shoulder to 180 degrees over about 7hrs. I was playing with the temp the whole time however trying to figure out the best combination. All smokers will require a bit of a learning curve. The smoker as a whole appears sturdy and looks like it will hold a good amount of meat. I am probably going to mount two more good quality thermometers to it....right at the cooking surface with one on the right and one on the left so I can try and even the heat out from one side to the other with convection plate design.
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Outdoor Leisure SH36209 Smoke Hollow 40-Inch Barrel
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