Any Fatboy Owners Wish they Bought a Party?

[JoeM]

After researching a lot of other brands, I have decided to purchase a new BWS. I'm having trouble deciding between the Fatboy and the Party. If I buy the Party, I will probably updrade to stainless steel doors, a heat diverter, and commercial fire grates. By the time I do that, I'm close to the cost of the Fatboy. Two things about the Fatboy that concern me are the weight, and the fact that the waterpan is not removable. If I go with the Fatboy, I might regret not being able to do direct grilling? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[Old Dave]

Joe M.

Looks like you have researched your purchase very well and I would sure agree with what you have come up with but I will mess it all up for you!!!

You might consider ordering that Fatboy with a removeable water pan?? It solved my problems on direct grilling.

You are correct in that by the time you order all the extras on the Party, it will cost about as much as the Fatboy. Both of these cookers are about the same size on cooking surface but the Party is less than half the weight of the Fatboy. If you handle the cooker a lot, it would make a difference.

If you do decide on either cooker, be sure to order the heat diverter with the cooker.

[JoeM]

Old Dave,

Thanks for the reply. I was considering ordering the Fatboy with the removable waterpan. I called and spoke to Jay at Backwoods and he said that he would not recommend that, because the waterpan would be heavy and hard to handle. Have you found that to be true? It seems to me that if you could find a way to drain the water first, it would not be that bad, and it would make the cooker a lot more versatile. Also, I was wondering if having a removable waterpan would affect the way the smoker drafts in any way?

[Braddog]

Based on the same logic that a fully optioned Party costs the same as a Fatboy, I purchased the Fatboy. I'm very pleased with it and haven't found the weight to be an issue.

In fact, I regret not getting a Competitor.

Cheers,
Braddog

[JoeM]

Braddog,

Do you move your Fatboy around any, or does it stay in one place?

I see that you also have a BGE, so I assume that you do all of your direct grilling on it (i.e., steaks, burgers, etc.). I was hoping to do everything on one cooker, so I would either need to go with the Party, or the Fatboy upgraded with the removable water pan.

Maybe another option would be to have a special firebox slider built for the Fatboy that woud slide in above the water pan and do direct grilling above that. What's your opinion of that. Do you think there would be enough vertical space above the water pan to do that?

[Old Dave]

A smart cook doesn't have a full waterpan at the time he is done cooking. I really don't find it a big problem to empty up my pans.

The pan out of the cooker does alter the draw of the cooker in that it is now a direct fire.

[toynaround]

i dont have an issue with my fatboy which has a removeable water pan. As Dave says you can manage how much water is left. I can pull it out damn near full if need be without too much sloshing. Im also planning on trying the aluminum pans inside the water pan for easier and quicker cleanup.

Because i live in the cold state on Minnesota i wanted the extra insulation on the fatboy. Someone may be able to confirm but i believe the shorter wider deeper fatboy will have less temp variance from top to bottom, also due to better insulation.

[JoeM]

toynaround,

Since your water pan is removable, when the water pan is in the cooker, does the cooker still draft the way it's desinged, or does it leak some heat and/or smoke around the removable water pan and into the cooking chamber?

[RickC]

toynaround,

Since your water pan is removable, when the water pan is in the cooker, does the cooker still draft the way it's desinged, or does it leak some heat and/or smoke around the removable water pan and into the cooking chamber?

Of course you are going to have some amount of heat and smoke that comes by the lips of the pan compared to a permanent pan, but the amount is miniscule and would not affect the operation of the smoker.

The smoker will flow like it does with the permanent pan.

[JoeM]

I appreciate everyone's advise. I pulled the trigger yesterday on a new Fatboy with heat deflector and removable water pan. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions when I receive it in October.

[toynaround]

i dont seem to have any/much leaking around the removeable pan.

peter

[JoeM]

Do you always use water in the water pan, or have you tried any other methods (i.e., no water, foil, etc.)? Do you have any other tips that might lessen my learning curve on the Fatboy?

Thanks,

Joe

[RickC]

I appreciate everyone's advise. I pulled the trigger yesterday on a new Fatboy with heat deflector and removable water pan. I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions when I receive it in October.

You're going to love it. The Fatboys are fantastic cookers, well any BWS is a fantastic smoker.

[toynaround]

I have not done any cooking without water in the pan. I recently lined the water pan with foil and used four 8"x8" aluminum cake pans. This made cleanup a breeze.

Did you consider buying a BBQ guru? Makes running the smoker even easier. Keep out of the wind, as tight as these are its amazing how little air they really need and a stiff wind can shoot down the exhaust, getting your temps to raise.

If you do a quick search you will find some techniques for lighting a fire, other than that I cant think of any other tips related to the cooker.

Im still a newbie, only cooked 7-8 times on my fatboy but i have not had any troubles.

[JoeM]

Did you consider buying a BBQ guru?

I have a BBQ Guru that I used on another cooker. I ordered an adapter for it that will fit the Fatboy so I should be set regarding that.