Questions about a smoker I'm having bult

[BWizzle2145]

Hi everyone! I having been following the site regularly but just signed up! You all give great insight and thoughts, so I wanted to present this to everyone here...

I have been using a Char-Griller that I purchased from Home Depot years ago and it has been great. It is now too burned out to serve much of a purpose now and I have decided to purchase more of a heavy duty rig. I am asked a lot to smoke meat for family, neighbors, and friends, so I need a smoker that can hold a fairly good amount of meat. On any day I could be smoking 9 slabs of spare ribs and a brisket or pork butt or two. I have been looking at smokers 20" in diameter and 40" long, but I am beginning to think that this may not be big enough to hold even the ribs alone. What size should I be thinking about when having this built? Should 24x48 be minimum?

My next question...The gentleman that is building this pit for me, is insisting that 3/16 thick main chamber and 1/4 FB is plenty thick enough to last. Most everyone I have seen are doing 1/4 main and FB. The gentleman has told me that he can do 1/4 MC but with the cost of metal having increased that its basically a waste of money. What are you guys feelings? Is 3/16 just fine or should I spend the extra money for 1/4?

I have to admit, I am being cost conscience. As much as I would like to spend $2000+ on a bad "A" smoker, I don't have the disposable funds today to do so. Maybe in the future. Thanks in advance for everyone's input!

[k.a.m.]

BWizzle2145, first off heat retention is everything in cookers. In my opinion if you are going to build spend the little bit extra and go the 1/4".
1/4" 5' x 10' $210.00 4' x 8' $130.00
3/16" 5' x 10' $160.00 4' x 8' $100.00
Now if you are having the chamber rolled and your welder has to out source the rolling that could be where the money he is talking about, you did not say so I do not know.
If you want to comfortably cook 9 racks of ribs, a brisket and a pork butt at the same time I would be looking at a 30" diam. x 60" to 80" long with upper and lower grates.
You need to allow space between your meats, ribs take up space unless you are using rib racks which I do not care for.
I would say a 24" x 60" minimum.
I hope this helps.

[BWizzle2145]

k.a.m

Thanks for the reply. I definitely mentioned the double grates, which has kind of automatically taken us to 24" diam. I am not sure if he is having the metal rolled or not. I need to ask him that.
Yes, ribs do take up space, and I don't use racks, which is what brought about my concern. I don't think I would be cooking all of that at once, but I could easily see a scenario where I had 8 slabs and a brisket.
After your input I think I will ask him about 60" in length.