Well, I went and done it!

[mrbill]

My thermo and lid holder arrived a couple days ago. Left work early to go to the doctor and got out of there early enough that I did some work on the Budlight kettle. Took a chore boy and some dish soap/water and scrubbed off the rust in the lid dings. Then I installed the thermo. Started small and worked up to my biggest bit. Turns out it wasn't big enough for the thermo shank so I wiggled it around some until it fit. Then I went outside and slapped the lid holder on the bowl. Next, I took some rustoleum high heat grill paint(black) and an old paint brush(sprayed the paint into a cup until it pooled) and touched up the dings. There's some overlap onto the blue, but I wanted to make sure I covered all the metal to keep the rust at bay. I wondered if the cover would fit w/the lid holder on. Turns out with a little shimmying, it fits just fine. Not sure if I should still refer to it as a OTS since adding the ash catcher and these mods. But anyway, here's the pics.

[Chasing_smoke]

That looks great MrBill! It's a OTG now with the ash can assembly. Almost a mini master touch, I really like it!


 "my kettle is more powerful it will do almost anything."

[pbe gummi bear]

Very nice, I like how you made it your own and how you offset the therm. How about some wood handles now? Hehe. You forgot to clean the spot under the top vent.

[MaxBobcat]

Nice customizing.  Basically a 2013 OTG now, with the therm and everything.  Slide aside looks good too.

Another vote for wood handles.  Wood grain with the blue kettles look sharp!   

[zavod44]

For sure wood handles.....

[mrbill]

I like how you made it your own and how you offset the therm. How about some wood handles now? Hehe. You forgot to clean the spot under the top vent.

about the best place I could think of w/o covering the logo for the therm. I noticed the vent issue, but after taking the pic and was too lazy to redo it. wood handles are not out of the question, but not really a priority for me right now. going for function/ease of use over form. plus, i'm already into it for almost twice the price of a new 18.5.

Thanks for the praise folks.

[mrbill]

I realized that using my preferred lid orientation, weber was upside down(I bought this second hand). I could not let that be, so I removed, then re-attached the handle.

here's proof



compare to pics above for reference

[Joethebartender]

Nice work, Bill.  Use it in good health.

[mrbill]

ty sir! I am very proud of it, but i'm also taken aback at how much I spent on it

[kendoll]

Attention to detail! Love it! Very nice work.

Ken

[Jeff]

Turned out nice MrBill...don't be afraid to take some steel wool and clean up a little bit more where you overlapped the black paint.  The spots will stay protected.  It looks much better.  Nice looking grill.

[glrasmussen]

Great looking cooker MrBill! I think most of us can vouch for spending a little more than expected. Dollar cost averaging over the next 20 years, not a bad investment.

[Craig]

Nice lookin' blue MT you made there! 

[jcnaz]

Nice!

[MacEggs]

Nice looking grill. Don't worry about the money ... unless you intended on flipping it ... which doesn't seem the case anyway. Enjoy it!