Anyone have Measurents of Kettle Height, not including legs of 18" Kettle vs 18" Jumbo Joe - thinking of making my own version of portable 18"

[Mike in Sacramento]

I'm considering getting a 18" original kettle, adding an ash catcher and cutting the legs to make it more portable. I know ther Jumbo Joe is out ther also, but it's too much trouble to add a modify a 1-touch and add an ash catcher. So, I'm wondering if anyone has just the height (or approximate) of each body to help me decide how much difference in height a shortended 18" kettle with ash catcher would be vs. a stock Jumbo Joe. Thanks!

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

My father used to say “You can tie your mule to the Queen Mary but, why would you want to.”
My point being rather than buy, modify and play with something that is pretty much only in need of a “leg trimming“ the additional “project time“ seems a little more than I would want to do.
Get the 18”,trim the legs or, just get a jumbo Joe. I guess I’m not clear on what your end result really is aside from a little “portability“.
To be honest, for the money and additional cooking space it get a 22” and trim the legs. All the support equipment can comfortably fit inside that. Better use of funds in my opinion.

 

[Mike in Sacramento]

My father used to say “You can tie your mule to the Queen Mary but, why would you want to.”
My point being rather than buy, modify and play with something that is pretty much only in need of a “leg trimming“ the additional “project time“ seems a little more than I would want to do.
Get the 18”,trim the legs or, just get a jumbo Joe. I guess I’m not clear on what your end result really is aside from a little “portability“.
To be honest, for the money and additional cooking space it get a 22” and trim the legs. All the support equipment can comfortably fit inside that. Better use of funds in my opinion.

Thanks for your non solicited opinion, but I already have a 22" performer, which is not portable, nor is a standard 22" kettle for my purposes. What I am wanting to do is to make a Jumbo Joe that has the enclosed ash catcher, and the only way to do that is really not much work at all as all it requires is a 18" kettle with the enclosed ash catcher and I just have to take 5 minutes and cut the legs with a hacksaw. I am just asking if someone could kindly give me the height measurements of the 18" kettle (without legs) and the height of a Jumbo Joe (without legs) to help me decide (estimate) on how tall my proposed modified 18" would be vs. the size of actual Jumbo Joe.

 

[Mike-GA]

18" Kettle vs. Jumbo Joe (ruler in middle)

 

[Mike in Sacramento]

18" Kettle vs. Jumbo Joe (ruler in middle)

View attachment 74482

Thank you! This is perfect. The JJ is clearly much shallower than the regular kettle. I'm getting the JJ. Thank you so much!

 

[Richard Garcia]

Thanks for your non solicited opinion,

As you should be aware; We Forum Members offer BOTH types of opinions

 

[Mike-GA]

Thank you! This is perfect. The JJ is clearly much shallower than the regular kettle. I'm getting the JJ. Thank you so much!

I use the JJ when camping. I layer aluminum foil about 3-4 layers on Ash Pan to easily dispose of ash after a cook or two per layer of foil. Makes cleanup quick and painless for several cooks. Far cheaper and less complex than modification to add smaller 1-Touch / ash catcher.

I seriously thought about converting the JJ to 1-Touch / ash catcher after watching a video online of someone who cleverly did it really well. But that guy had better skills and more will to do it than I could muster. Here is his video:

 

[Mike-GA]

18" Kettle vs. Jumbo Joe (ruler in middle)

View attachment 74482

BTW... some good, simple mods to Jumbo Joe: Weber 18" Hinged grill grate, Weber Thermometer on lid, Weber plastic cool touch handle on lid vent damper (from Performer). I plan to add some kind of cool touch handle to the bottom vent damper at some point.

 

[DrewZ]

I'm considering getting a 18" original kettle, adding an ash catcher and cutting the legs to make it more portable. I know ther Jumbo Joe is out ther also, but it's too much trouble to add a modify a 1-touch and add an ash catcher. So, I'm wondering if anyone has just the height (or approximate) of each body to help me decide how much difference in height a shortended 18" kettle with ash catcher would be vs. a stock Jumbo Joe. Thanks!

I modified an 18" to use on the dock at my cabin. Aside from cutting down the legs, I added the lid bale from a first-generation outrider.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I modified an 18" to use on the dock at my cabin. Aside from cutting down the legs, I added the lid bale from a first-generation outrider.

Exactly what I was saying!
And, what a delightful spot!

 

[Mike in Sacramento]

I modified an 18" to use on the dock at my cabin. Aside from cutting down the legs, I added the lid bale from a first-generation outrider.

I modified an 18" to use on the dock at my cabin. Aside from cutting down the legs, I added the lid bale from a first-generation outrider.

Very nice I used to have a modified one too some time ago, but I wasn't using it so I let it go to a good home. Now, the need for a portable came up again, so I was looking at making another one or getting a Jumbo Joe. I ended up getting a nice JJ for $40 the other day. I did really like my modified 18" though. Here's a fun fact for anyone thinking of doing the mod, the straight Glacier Bay shower curtain rod from home depot ($9) fits perfectly for the legs and you can keep your original legs if needed. Here's a pic of the one I had.