I will try that for the next cook. This is a picture of my smokerbox. As you can see it has holes at the bottom and the heating element and try is directly beneath it. So as the ash is created it falls directly on the heating element. I'll try the foil boats and see how that works as I tested and they immediately combust once the element comes on. See if that helps it out. Hopefully that will take care of the ash issue as well.
Thanks,