New WSM 18

This may not be the right place for this but i wasn't sure where it belonged.

I've seen a decent amt of talk about the 22's showing up, albeit later than expected, but have not seen or at least noticed, as much discussion about the new 18's. Mine has yet to arrive and was wondering whether the 18s are being shipped in any meangingful numbers yet.

Davidd
I bought my 18.5 on Jan 3rd and had a shipping window of Feb 4th-17th. However I recieved an email from Amazon last night saying they had shipped it on the 9th with Fed-Ex. Expected delivery date Jan 15th.

Hey Davidd,

It appears that a shipment of the new 18"ers got sent out just recently.

I ordered mine on December 16th and I'm supposed to get it delivered tomorrow. Originally the date was Jan. 21st.

Wouldn't that be wild if Tony's WSM and mine are on the same truck?

Russ

Because of the circumstances under which you are to receive your new WSM, I would contact them to make sure you haven't fallen through the cracks. I would have expected that you would have been pretty much 1st on the list.

Bill

I did end up contacting weber, in fact, I decided it was time to contact the guy who approved the arrangement, Ken Stephens. Given the surprising delays and inability for my primary contact to provide a ETA, I felt that was the best route. I never heard backfrom Ken, but an associate said a new load of 18s just went to distribution, so mine is supposed to ship any day. We'll see.

At our ACE warehouse, the 22.5's came in right before Christmas, though not a whole lot of them. The 18.5's came in within the last 1.5 weeks and in greater numbers (like 50+ compared to 12 22.5's).

Many of the pre-ordered 18's came in before Christmas.

Wife ordered mine on Dec. 7 and it was delivered to my door on the Dec. 23.

Ordered my 18" on Saturday (1/10) and FedEx is delivering it tomorrow. From Amazon. When I checked 1/7, Amazon was stating 2-3 weeks before delivery. When it changed Saturday I quickly ordered!

-Ian

My 18.5 just arrived about 45 mins ago. Of course I had to put it together

I had never seen one in person before. It is a lot bigger and heavier than I expected. That new water pan is huge. I didn't know what it was at first.

I am glad I went with the 18.5. I can't imagine the size of the 22.5. It would be intimidating

My wife has tax class all weekend. Its gonna be playtime

Russ did you get yours today?

I ordered mine on Dec. 26 and received it on Dec. 31 and my Dad just ordered one last week and got it yesterday. I ordered it from rons hardware in indianapolis on the web.

Yes I did!!

It was delivered at 2:30 by FedEx and I got home from work at about 3:30. When I pulled into the driveway I almost had an emotional moment.

I'm an Aerospace engineer so I decided to put on my engineering hat and approach this thing in a very methodical way and see if Chris's observations held true. Let me add that I have NEVER smoked anything and I am certainly no guru like Chris. So if Weber reads this board at all then this is about as objective as it gets. I live in Melbourne Florida and this unit came from Irving Texas via truck.

Here what I came up with:

As received. The box was in very good shape and I didn't notice any dents or deformations.

Packaging. As I unpacked I noticed that the box that had the brackets and hardware had already been opened. I immediately thought that this is probably a returned unit so I then started inspecting all pieces in detail but never found anything. Everything seemed well protected and tightly packed even with minimal cardboard and such.

Fit and finish. As I said, I inspected everything in close detail and couldn't find anything. All of the pieces fit together very well except the door. The bottom of the door fit fairly well but the top was basically flat which left the top edges about a half to three quarters of an inch away from the body. I spent several minutes fitting it in and got it so that the biggest gap is less than 1/16". I didn't see any out-of-round condition as the three sections fit together very well.

Documentation. I found the assembly/useage book to be quite clear and well written. I did spend a few minutes going over the instructions before starting just to be sure that I understood what was going on. My only comment might be that it could be called out more clearly which washers are used where. It took me a minute to figure out that the metal washers are the unfilled ones in the instructions and the fiber ones are the shaded ones. No big deal and it would have been very obvious due to the different quantities needed.

Cover. Very nice and quite heavy. It fits nice and snug so it won't blow off and even has two pieces of bungee type material to gather the bottom hem. I especially liked the little piece of tissue over the logo so that it didn't stick to the plastic and get ruined. Nice touch.

I did use the 'assemble on the box' method talked about and it worked really quite well. I too was/am very concerned about scratches as the sea air around here causes everything to rust eventually. I only strayed from the instructions in that I used a 1/4" ratchet with 7/16" socket rather than the 7/16" combination wrench they called for. I figured I had less chance of scratching the finish with the ratchet.

Overall I'm very impressed with the gauge of metal, fit, finish, design and the book that came with it. I never did figure out why the hardware box was opened as everything was present and all fit together nicely with the exception of the door. I can't believe someone returned it because of the door.

I will be firing it up tomorrow for the first time just to see how the temperature control works. I'm going to wait to actually smoke something until this weekend.

The only question I came away with is: On the water pan there are two small holes along the top ridge. What are those for?

Russ

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Russ Sylvester:
On the water pan there are two small holes along the top ridge. What are those for? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>The parts are hung by these holes during the porcelain application process.

Hi David, good to hear from you, but sorry you haven't yet received your New WSM. I agree, you should be at/near the top of the list!

I wonder if this slow launch is related to the ongoing problems with Weber's corporate computer system. They installed a new system in November, and are still (even as of today 1/14/09) experiencing problems. My contact could not even give me a price on the new 22.5" WSM!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> On the water pan there are two small holes along the top ridge </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The parts are hung by these holes during the porcelain application process </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have often thought to myself: why not use the hole for a locating pin on the bracket of a 2820, to secure the water pan while assembling the WSM? Haven't tried it, but wanted to throw that idea out there. You guys with welders and handles on the center sections should be able to run with this... Or even just drill a hole in the bracket, and put a small bolt in place.

Russ that was pretty much my experience too except I got home and mine wasn't here Even though the FedEx site said it was on the delivery truck. But they came through at 445 I had it put together by 530.

My box was also retaped shut. Nothing missing or damaged.

I thought the cartoon assembly instructions left much to be desired. If I hadn't watched Chris's videos and read this board for the last month the assembly might have taken longer.

Only problem I can see about the design is the legs. Specifically the bottom bolt. It is tricky trying to get a screwdriver to hold it steady while tightening the bolt. The screw driver is at an angle and can slide off easily. A slot in the leg would allow for a straight shot with the screwdriver for a more secure purchase when torquing it.

Other than that I am very impressed with its construction.

OK, anyone who's waiting on delivery, go out and buy yourself a stubby screwdriver. You'll wonder how you ever got along without one. (OK, you'll probably use it again at least once in the next ten years, but they're cheap and every tool box should have one. )

Larry's probably right. I have a stubby screwdriver but ended up just putting my finger on the screw head and put the ratchet on the nut. They all tightened right up holding the screw head with just finger pressure.

I ordered mine first week in January, Amazon listed delivery late February or early march. Next thing I know Amazon listed them as in stock and I got an email and received it January 15th. Believe it or not I did not open the box or assemble it until today.

I have never seen the WSM in person, but am impressed to say the least. I am glad to have the new version. The larger water pan, heavier legs, redesigned door handle, improved charcoal grate and built in thermometer seem worth the wait and increased cost.

My outer box was not opened, but as others have mentioned the small box on top with legs and grate supports was opened and not retaped. I was however shorted a grate support...only three were inside. I also received an older style charcoal grate that still has the large gaps at the edges that coals fall through. My unit also has a defined wobble...the center section to bottom section fit is off. When placed on a flat surface, the lid is perfectly flat. The bottom bowl is definitely not flat, and the bottom of the center section is off just a little bit. I will call Weber next week. I know they will take care of things.

Can't wait to fire it up. Overall, I'm very pleased and truly excited to start smoking with it!

Forgot...the stubby screwdriver does make things much easier.

Also - does your instruction manual look like something someone printed out on a black and white home copy machine? It is a small point but mine looks totally homemade, in flat black and white.

The instructions were less than succint yes, and only a count of the washers revealed where to use the fiber ones....