Been reading and an occasional post for over a year. Have 2 - 18 1/2 WSM's and 1 - 22 1/2 WSM. Initially had a Char Griller side fire box. Did all of the mods, but got tired of baby sitting and hassles. Ended up giving it away. I could not feel good about taking money for it.
The first 18 1/2 was given to me by a client. The client is a competition cooker in TX with a huge trailer/kitchen/cooker rig and had not used the WSM for years. The second was a rescued WSM from Craig's List for $10.00. The top and bottom were rusted out, grates rusted, etc. I noticed the date code was within the 10 yr warranty. I called Weber, sent pictures of the date code and rusted parts and they replaced them. WOW! Had to buy new grates and a Brinkman water pan, and made a charcoal ring out of expanded metal (I think this ring works better than the factory ring).
Then bought a new but "damaged" 22 1/2 WSM off of ebay for $200 including shipping. The mid-section was bent pretty good around the upper lip. A hammer, block of wood and hi-temp paint did the trick. Looked like it just came from the factory.
I put the nomex seals on all three - door, upper and lower part of the mid-sections.
They all work great. Don't know how I lived without them. I have done cooks using 2 at the same time, but not 3. That would be a lot of food!
The first 18 1/2 was given to me by a client. The client is a competition cooker in TX with a huge trailer/kitchen/cooker rig and had not used the WSM for years. The second was a rescued WSM from Craig's List for $10.00. The top and bottom were rusted out, grates rusted, etc. I noticed the date code was within the 10 yr warranty. I called Weber, sent pictures of the date code and rusted parts and they replaced them. WOW! Had to buy new grates and a Brinkman water pan, and made a charcoal ring out of expanded metal (I think this ring works better than the factory ring).
Then bought a new but "damaged" 22 1/2 WSM off of ebay for $200 including shipping. The mid-section was bent pretty good around the upper lip. A hammer, block of wood and hi-temp paint did the trick. Looked like it just came from the factory.
I put the nomex seals on all three - door, upper and lower part of the mid-sections.
They all work great. Don't know how I lived without them. I have done cooks using 2 at the same time, but not 3. That would be a lot of food!
nice CL finds!
