fat boy or party

[toynaround]

Looking

I just picked up a party from a local dealer and now wondering if i should go with the fat boy for $500 more. I have not cooked with it yet so i could easily trade up. I live in Minnesota where it gets cold so the fatboys insulation would be better.

The fat boys interior volume is slightly bigger than the party but is one configuration more preferable or versatile?

I also noticed that the fatboy has a valve and fitting on the side, what is the purpose of this?

thanks, any insights and opinions would be helpful.

[papalion]

I too was looking at the Extend Party & the Fatboy. the main difference other than size is the party water pan is revomable and the Fatboy is permanent water pan. hope this helps

[toynaround]

I decided to go with the fat boy and picked it up today, wow what a beast! The dealer had one that had an upgrade with a removeable water pan, stand and castors. A bit more money but what sold me was the longer run time with the bigger charcoal capacity, slightly bigger internal size and better space configuration for odd stuff like pizza.

hope to get it going this weekend will report in on my first cook later.

[RickC]

Looking

I live in Minnesota where it gets cold so the fatboys insulation would be better.

Do the different models have different insulation in them. I have not seen this mentioned on the web site? Old Dave probably knows the answer to this.

[Old Dave]

Rick,

The Backwoods Party comes standard with 1" of insulation and they do offer an option of 2" of insulation on this model but in my opinion, the cooker doesn't need it. I cook all Winter on mine in temps sometimes below zero and never have any problems at all.

The Backwoods Fatboy does come standard with the 2" insulation package.

[Arkiehog]

I was considering the fast eddy 1000 until I saw the ftboy with a receiver hitch mount. I like the portability of it. Is it possible to do the same with the party? I would add perm water, heat shield but is there anything else besides guru?. Both of these are below my budget. I've also noticed the size difference in interior height. I have a hasty bake, cookshack and the Orion cooker. Want to cook larger amounts for block parties and want to take to my lake house on weekends. Do you have to shift the meat around while it cooks or is it pretty uniform? Thanks

[Braddog]

I've owned 2 BWS cookers and both run hotter at the top than the bottom. I have to rotate the meat if the cooker is full to get things to finish evenly.

One thing to note about the Fatboy, the cooking racks are really too close together to utilize all 4 of them for big meats such as butts (unless you get small butts or debone & butterfly).

With regard to insulation, I believe the Chubby & Party are standard with 1" of insulation. All the bigger cookers are standard with 2".

Cheers,
Braddog