Jeez, I've got to get all these "messes" figured out someday!

Well, here's yet another project involving a bbq pit and trailer.  As you've probably read, Pvt. Mess was my trailered bbq pit that was stolen.  I had a lot of good cooks on that with friends, family and the historic military vehicle club I belong to.  When that was stolen, I got pretty bummed out and didn't think about building another one until a club member recently mentioned they couldn't wait until the Spring Burnet air-show, and asked what I'd be cooking.  When I heard that, I just had to spring into action and build another to keep the guys happy.

So I bring you Sgt. Mess, making me the "Mess Sergeant"!

02/07/2006 (Tuesday - 5.00hrs/5.00hrs total)
Today was the day I decided to just 'get her done'.  My goal was to fabricate everything so all I would have to do is wait for the next warm, sunny day to sand, prime and paint.

Naked trailer and base rack	The $50 used pit with all the racks!	Trailer and pit	Trailer/pit mockup	The base rack cut to fit
Fenders mocked up	Angle for leg attachment cut and mocked up		Pit legs cut to keep the same handle hgt.	Pit mocked up on the trailer
Center align	Left align	Went with the left align	Allows for a cooler and wood
Angle in place with leg bolts	Fabricated the 20mm box supports		A good day's work	Still need to fab the landing leg

02/11/2006 (Saturday - 1.00hr/6.00hrs total)
Today's goal was to fabricate the landing leg support.  Scrounging around I found a 4" pc of 2"ID tube as well as a good stock of 2"OD tube that would work as the insert or leg.  I had a few trailer hitch pins in the truck toolbox that worked as the pins to hold the leg in place during cooks and/or transport.   I've got a whopping 6.00 hours in the project now.

	Fabricated the landing leg		Ready for sand/prime and paint!

03/02/2006 (Thursday - 3.00hrs/9.00hrs total)
Today's goal was to get the new project sanded, primed and painted.  That said, I did a quick sandblast to knock off the big stuff, and hit some spots that could easily be seen in addition to where there was a lot of rusty spots.  I taped off the tires and shot it with a two-part epoxy red-oxide primer (PPG's DP-74LF) that I just love 'cause it's durable as hell and you can paint on it within an hour and no sanding is necessary.  I had some left over from the last project and used it all up.  After about an hour, I shot it with what's referred to as OD#24087 or the late Korean war/early Vietnam war paint code from a gallon I had in the garage waiting for yet another project. This is a semi-gloss paint that gets cut with 4oz zylene to 28oz paint and it all goes in the Imperial Tool Palace (Harbor Freight) 'quart pot' spray rig running about 20psi. It sat in the sun about an hour and I shot it a second time. I'll let this dry under a barn for several days (supposed to rain anyway this weekend) before applying any markings for grins.

	2-Part Epoxy Primer	Taped and painted #24087	Ready for graphics and then attack the pit clean-up & paint

03/04/2006 (Saturday - 2.00hrs/11.00hrs total)
After finishing the Texas Independence Day parade, I headed over to Kaiserville to do some more work on the pit.

Stencils on, door oiled	Yuck!  Cleaning the inside	Horizontal cleaned and oiled		All that remains is paint the firebox

03/06/2006 (Monday - 1.00hrs/12.00hrs total)
Yet another bright, sunny day with little wind!  So, I took my high-temp bbq spray paint and went after the firebox.  After first blowing it with high-pressure compressed air, I shot two coats inside and outside.  The can showed more of a black gloss, but what came out was more of a light gray flat.  Oh well.  I'm not going to change it other than to oil the firebox down in a few days.  That should darken it up some.  And the overspray primer?  I'm leaving it.

It's done!	All opened up.  The pit came with all the racks!	Cook's side	Storage side	Firebox side

Costs to Date: (including tax)

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