"On the one down side, the front access door is a little flimsy so you should be careful not to bend it out of shape. The upside of this is that you can "custom" fit it so that it holds in the smoke better."
This came from "about.com." My question is -- how does one custom fit the access door on a WSM? AND is it really necessary to custom fit the access door? I mean, if it ain't broke, why fix it?
Thanks, as always, for your input.
The discussion above is spot on. The door can work fine, but its not sturdy. If you are cooking at home that's fine, but if you move the smoker alot things can hit the door, it bends, leaks and all of a sudden you can't get your temp under 280-300.
The door of the smoker has a step at bottom, so that portion is more rigid than the top:
There other sealing challenge is that the door straddles the sheet metal at the bottom. I needs to seal from the inside at the bottom edge and from the outside on the sides and top edge.
To adjust it, the first thing you need to do is make sure that the bottom is not excessively bowed. You want it to have a slightly larger curvature than the mid section, so that it "springs" up against it when you lock the handles. The second thing you want to do is make sure that the left and right edges are straght. If they are excessively bowed, they will leak in the middle. Last but not least you want to bend the top edge. For this portion you want the curvature to be slightly smaller than the midsection (top corners touching first without the lock). This way, when you lock it the edge is pulled in tight.
All these adjustments are doable on the 18" but can be challenging and frustrating since it's so flimsy. It's even more challenging on the 22" because of the size, flimsiness of the door, and the geometry of the hole.
Finding leaks in the WSM is trial and error. This is inevitable because of the number of parts it has compared to a kettle. But once you get it locked in, it's a pleasure to use. Seasoning helps seal the WSM, but it will not fix a leaky door.
Look at this picture and tell me the OEM door doesn't leak. Mind you this is an official Weber pic, and the smoker is probably brand new, but you get my point: