New The Huntsman Kettle Kamado Grill from Spider coming.


 
Jon Tofte said:
Unboxing & Assembly: First Impressions

I opened up the boxes over the weekend. The care in how everything was cleverly packaged with generous foam padding and cardboard braces to protect the contents was noteworthy.

View attachment 98445

Tonight I worked in earnest to get this Huntsman assembled. As others have noted, this thing is very heavy and ruggedly built.

View attachment 98450
View attachment 98451
Check out the very nice casters; all three with easy to activate locking mechanisms:

View attachment 98453

Assembly wasn’t that bad. I tested the included hardware and, to my disappointment found the parts to be somewhat magnetic. I was surprised because overall this grill shows no evidence of being de-contented by the bean counters. Then I looked closer at the tiny bolt labels. Turns out that the “A2 70” shows they are made of a higher grade of stainless intended for applications just like this:
View attachment 98452
The magnetic aspect is also explained:
View attachment 98454

The stainless grates are unique (and non-magnetic) but not as odd to me as say the curvy ones used by Napoleon. The closest thing I have seen to these are some flat stainless grates made by Stanbroil for the Weber Q grills. These seem thicker and of a higher grade stainless.

View attachment 98455
View attachment 98456

It’s all together now awaiting seasoning with the included kit.

View attachment 98457
View attachment 98458

The coolest and most innovative feature, though, is the fuel door. This and the heavy carbon steel construction make me see this as more of a kettle/offset smoker fusion than a “kettle kamado.”

View attachment 98459
View attachment 98460

I hope to follow up soon with some first grilling attempts. My first impressions are very positive with no buyer’s remorse!

View attachment 98461
Click to expand...
Very cool!!
 
Jon Tofte said:
Unboxing & Assembly: First Impressions

I opened up the boxes over the weekend. The care in how everything was cleverly packaged with generous foam padding and cardboard braces to protect the contents was noteworthy.



Tonight I worked in earnest to get this Huntsman assembled. As others have noted, this thing is very heavy and ruggedly built.



Check out the very nice casters; all three with easy to activate locking mechanisms:



Assembly wasn’t that bad. I tested the included hardware and, to my disappointment found the parts to be somewhat magnetic. I was surprised because overall this grill shows no evidence of being de-contented by the bean counters. Then I looked closer at the tiny bolt labels. Turns out that the “A2 70” shows they are made of a higher grade of stainless intended for applications just like this:

The magnetic aspect is also explained:


The stainless grates are unique (and non-magnetic) but not as odd to me as say the curvy ones used by Napoleon. The closest thing I have seen to these are some flat stainless grates made by Stanbroil for the Weber Q grills. These seem thicker and of a higher grade stainless.




It’s all together now awaiting seasoning with the included kit.


View attachment 98458

The coolest and most innovative feature, though, is the fuel door. This and the heavy carbon steel construction make me see this as more of a kettle/offset smoker fusion than a “kettle kamado.”




I hope to follow up soon with some first grilling attempts. My first impressions are very positive with no buyer’s remorse!
Click to expand...
Jon, did you have any difficulty getting the hinge lock out? Mine won't budge. Also, are the additional washers intended for anything else specific?
 
Mike, the instructions are kind of thin. To get the hinge lock out you have to use the hex insert socket they supply and slowly tighten the hinge mechanism until the inner part moves enough to be able to pull out the hinge lock. They warn against over-tightening, so do it gradually!

I wondered why I had twelve washers with nowhere to go, so I Googled using a lock washer together with a regular one. Although the instructions don’t mention it, you are supposed to attach the hinge with the regular washers touching the grill and the lock washers sandwiched between the regular washers and the bolts.

I hope this helps! Eager to get mine seasoned and try it out. Too much other stuff going on 😕.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Mike, the instructions are kind of thin. To get the hinge lock out you have to use the hex insert socket they supply and slowly tighten the hinge mechanism until the inner part moves enough to be able to pull out the hinge lock. They warn against over-tightening, so do it gradually!

I wondered why I had twelve washers with nowhere to go, so I Googled using a lock washer together with a regular one. Although the instructions don’t mention it, you are supposed to attach the hinge with the regular washers touching the grill and the lock washers sandwiched between the regular washers and the bolts.

I hope this helps! Eager to get mine seasoned and try it out. Too much other stuff going on 😕.
Click to expand...
Thanks Jon! That did it. Instructions didn't address that on the hinge lock and washers. I was tightening and loosening the hinge tensioner but just not tightening it enough to take up the tension on the lock.
 
Hi everyone new member here! Watching this thread closely because I’m excited to see some more first hand accounts of using this new grill! Love my kettle but interested in seeing what this new guy is all about!
 
Very sorry that work, life and even some grill restoration has gotten in the way, but hopefully soon I will do the seasoning and first cook.

In the meantime, I wanted to post this picture of the vent. If you watched Tom Horsman’s videos you may have noted his complaint about the vent getting hot and his “mod” to attach a coiled handle to overcome this.

As I was cleaning out the Huntsman boxes I found this small, late addition with a small instruction card. I admire Spider for paying attention to the early user reviews:

IMG_5988.jpeg
 
I haven't read this whole thread but do they have a QR code for the BILT app?
That makes some of these builds somewhat easier.
 
Jon Tofte said:
Very sorry that work, life and even some grill restoration has gotten in the way, but hopefully soon I will do the seasoning and first cook.

In the meantime, I wanted to post this picture of the vent. If you watched Tom Horsman’s videos you may have noted his complaint about the vent getting hot and his “mod” to attach a coiled handle to overcome this.

As I was cleaning out the Huntsman boxes I found this small, late addition with a small instruction card. I admire Spider for paying attention to the early user reviews:

View attachment 98566
Click to expand...
I found that straight away, so was at least ahead of you on that one. :) I also tightened the bolt on the vent hood to make it a little more resistant to moving.
 
Update-
Box 1 of my Huntsman
IMG_7260.jpeg
Really frustrated with Fed Ex. Box 1 has been in Indiana for over a week. Called them and got nothing from them. Just another tracking update that was incorrect. Box 2 is lonely on my patio 😬. So for now I have the “Man” and waiting for the “Hunts”! 😂
 
Richard S said:
Update-
Box 1 of my Huntsman
View attachment 98701
Really frustrated with Fed Ex. Box 1 has been in Indiana for over a week. Called them and got nothing from them. Just another tracking update that was incorrect. Box 2 is lonely on my patio 😬. So for now I have the “Man” and waiting for the “Hunts”! 😂
Click to expand...
FedEx has killed me at times.
 
Seeing this is not encouraging. I've been worried about rust issues with the type of materials they are using. It appears as though it's already rusted to the point of failure with that section of door!
 
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