Apologies ahead of time for long winded-ness.
Hello all! Been a member on the site for almost a year, keep forgetting to introduce myself.
My name is Dave from the south suburbs of Chicago, I'm a homebrewer, a griller and a BBQer.
I bought my first Kettle in 2000 from Sears. I wanted a 22.5 OTG but the salesman said they were out of stock, so i decided to buy the standard black 22.5 kettle instead for 87$ or so. I was waiting at the pick up area and they rolled out with the OTG, I was slightly bewildered but they checked my receipt and I was out of there like a bat out of hell. Still cooking like a champ 19 years later.
My second kettle purchase was a 2016 black OKP 22.5 I picked up at Target for 45$ on clearance.
My third kettle is an 2009 18.5 black OTS (maybe used twice)that I picked up for free when an office building was cleaning out some storage areas and tossed it.
I was disappointed by some of the changes Weber has made in the most recent years, they don't seem as rugged. I am now obsessed and constantly searching any website or app that sells used items for older Weber kettles.
My luck has seemed to dry up, either the grills are beyond repair or the deal just seems to fall through or I'm minutes too late.(Damn you guy that got the brown 26" for 30!!!!!!!$ and then offered to sell it to me for 200$ in front of my wife, he seemed to be a nice guy though)
Anyhow, I love the site. The WKC community is awesome, and I hope to trade stories and kettles in the near future.