I'll warn you ahead of time, mine is nothing special. No special paint jobs or original innovative ideas. I just used proven idea's I've seen here. I'm not normally a cheap guy favoring quality and performance over price but in this case, I wasn't too sure how much I'd like this setup or how often I'd use it so I tried to keep the costs down while still making a decent end product.
I started with a SJS because I already had one. Even if I was starting from scratch I think I'd still pick the Silver over the Gold. I used a Vasconia pot, partly because that seems to be the best pot for the job and partly because I found one BNIB on eBay for ~$18 shipped. I debated between cutting out the bottom or just drilling a bunch of holes but in the end decided to cut out the bottom. I found a dinner plate was the perfect size to mark out the cut line.
One of the biggest decisions for me was how to mount the drip pan and what to use for a drip pan? Someone here (sorry don't remember who?) gave me what I think is the perfect solution. Use the steamer insert that came with the pot and cut out the middle to fit a shallow pan. I really liked that idea better then some of the other methods I've seen so I went with that. Next up was finding the right pan and once again, eBay to the rescue. I found an Norpro 9" round SS cake pan for ~$10 shipped that worked out perfectly. All of the other odds and ends hardware are SS parts from HD. Lastly, I grabbed a 2" River Country Premium SS Adjustable BBQ Thermometer for ~$17 off Amazon because it seemed like a good compromise between quality and price.
In the end, I blew the paint job and may end up redoing it. I wasn't worried about logos and such but I painted it in a poorly lit area and ended up with a lot of dusting/over spray. Other then that, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Another mistake I made that you may be able to tell is when I bent the tabs on the lower vent to mount the eye bolt handle, I bent it a little too much and as a result, the lower vent is very loose now. Thankfully it doesn't seem to effect performance. Because I was using a SJS, I didn't see the need for a charcoal basket but did end up using some expanded metal on a the coal grate to keep smaller piece of coal from falling through and clogging up the vent. Also (not shown) is a cut down peaches can upside down over the vent hole.
I started with a SJS because I already had one. Even if I was starting from scratch I think I'd still pick the Silver over the Gold. I used a Vasconia pot, partly because that seems to be the best pot for the job and partly because I found one BNIB on eBay for ~$18 shipped. I debated between cutting out the bottom or just drilling a bunch of holes but in the end decided to cut out the bottom. I found a dinner plate was the perfect size to mark out the cut line.
One of the biggest decisions for me was how to mount the drip pan and what to use for a drip pan? Someone here (sorry don't remember who?) gave me what I think is the perfect solution. Use the steamer insert that came with the pot and cut out the middle to fit a shallow pan. I really liked that idea better then some of the other methods I've seen so I went with that. Next up was finding the right pan and once again, eBay to the rescue. I found an Norpro 9" round SS cake pan for ~$10 shipped that worked out perfectly. All of the other odds and ends hardware are SS parts from HD. Lastly, I grabbed a 2" River Country Premium SS Adjustable BBQ Thermometer for ~$17 off Amazon because it seemed like a good compromise between quality and price.
In the end, I blew the paint job and may end up redoing it. I wasn't worried about logos and such but I painted it in a poorly lit area and ended up with a lot of dusting/over spray. Other then that, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
Another mistake I made that you may be able to tell is when I bent the tabs on the lower vent to mount the eye bolt handle, I bent it a little too much and as a result, the lower vent is very loose now. Thankfully it doesn't seem to effect performance. Because I was using a SJS, I didn't see the need for a charcoal basket but did end up using some expanded metal on a the coal grate to keep smaller piece of coal from falling through and clogging up the vent. Also (not shown) is a cut down peaches can upside down over the vent hole.
