New Weber room and new kettles

[Mr.CPHo]

We recently bought a house and moved to Asheville, NC.  IDK why it's taken me so long to post about the move, but I did want to share with the group what a monumental pain in the ass moving a kettle collection can be, and also offer some tips for anyone who may have to suffer through the same experience.  Hang out with me for a few and I'll share some recent acquisitions too. 

I've used the term "selective streamlining" before and I'll be honest when I say that selling off some of my collection was painful, but also provided much needed clarity as to what my favorites are and where I envisioned my collection would go down the road.  Big thank you to two particular WKC'ers back in FL, @brewster and @canyonero, who helped provide good homes for several of my former kettles.

Once I decided on which kettles were making the move, I took an inventory of the number of boxes I would need to buy.  Based on my recollection, all GA's, SJ's, 18's and 22's used boxes from Staples and 26'ers used boxes from FedEx.  They were all double-ply heavy duty boxes and I believe Staples had a 50% sale if you buy 5 or more.  LMK if anyone needs specific dimensions of boxes.  Purchasing boxes was not cheap, especially the larger 28" boxes from FedEx.  I used foam float tubes as packing material which wasn't too expensive. 

There were no shortcuts to dismantling and packing each and every single kettle.  This was extremely time intensive and included a quick cleaning as I didn't want to pack a bunch of greasy ashes.  Instead of cutting down the boxes to the appropriate height, I used the remaining space to pack accessories, odds-and-ends, etc.  Before sealing each box, I'd write the contents on the outside so I knew which box contained which kettle/accessory.

There was no way to pack a Seville, an Orleans, a Chill, or multiple SSP's, but I essentially wrapped their edges with foam tubing for protection.  I also had 300+ lbs of charcoal I had to move and I used these around the carts so they wouldn't shift while in transit. 

Speaking of transit, we opted to use the U-Pack shipping company for our move.  This was the cheapest, most viable option for moving my kettle collection.  They dropped off the shipping container, and then we just loaded it up and scheduled pickup from our old address and delivery at our new address.  Items did shift a little while in transit, but no damage to any of my kettles.  Thank you double-ply heavy duty boxes!

If anyone is wondering, I transported the Ranger in my own truck and used it for the week or so before the rest of our stuff arrived.  Good times.

So... now we're in the new house and I've finally finished unpacking my collection.  I guess there is an upside to being on coronavirus lockdown.  Cookers are out in the garage and Lookers are in my new Weber Room.  (Nothing when compared to JEBIV's Weber Room, but aspirational nonetheless).

I've added a few kettles to the collection since the move.  I couldn't pass up @DrewZ's plum 18 when it became available.  I also jumped at @WeberNV's proposition to trade a 22" Homer for a Gourmet, currently being restored while on lockdown.  I also shared a rescue of a Chief from Knoxville with the help of @wnc.

I typically don't like to share acquisitions until they're in my possession, but I feel this kettle, and two grillfellas in particular, deserve some special recognition.  @JEBIV was the mastermind, and @Jon Tofte was the muscle.  I'm extremely ingratiated to them both for securing the MLH Ranch that sold on eBay last month.  I've included a few pictures of the mothership in Jon's workshop, safe and sound within the WKC.  It looks absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait for it to land in my garage!  Thank you, Joe and Jon!

[CatskillSmoker]

Glad everything went well as could be. Awesome new scores. Your closer now, you never know.

[michaelmilitello]

Awesome story and beautiful collection.  Asheville is lovely btw.   If we moved south, that would be on my short list of places. 


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[Foster Dahlet]

Holy cow!  Asheville....western Carolina....that is fantastic.  Congrats and looking forward to seeing mountain cooks.

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[JEBIV]

Glad you finally shared your move. Happy that you have a Weber room now too. The MLH Ranch was a pleasure to be a part of

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[WeberKell11]

Awesome story Charlie glad everything worked out!

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[Mike in Roseville]

Looks amazing, Charlie! Thanks for sharing.


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[crowderjd]

Congrats on the move, and on that Ranch! 

[captjoe06]

Great read from one of my favorite WKCers

Keep in touch and let us know how you like the community. 

[WNC]

That ranch is pretty amazing!
And it feel like we're only getting a glimpse of the Weber room


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[bamakettles]

Thanks for sharing your story.... The packing part does seem time and labor intensive, but I'm sure you enjoyed cleaning everything up.  Hard part is done, now you can enjoy!

[bladz]

Sounds like quite the undertaking.  Glad the kettles arrived unscathed. Great collection, and congrats on the Ranch! 


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[WEBERNV]

Glad you are getting settled in, and happy to see my yellow made it to it's new home safely! Thanks again for the trade! Pretty cool to see kettles being exchanged across the country!

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[brewtownbeatdown]

Congrats are in order for escaping Florida.  Can only imagine how nerve wracking it was to pack those kettles to survive someone else moving them (how they handle that container, how they drive).  I own a semi trailer that I use for storage.  The place I stored it decided to boot every semi trailer out, because one tenant passed, and they had no family.  Was a legal nightmare for them w/o there being a title available.  Even with all the care I took packing my kettles, and it being me moving the trailer 20 miles, I was still worried for my babies.

BTW...I would have done the same with that Ranger


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[Darko]

WOW!!!! Congrats Charlie, that looks great.