Hauling the FEC

I transport mine over to Craig's house in an open 4 x 6 trailer. I put a moving pad on the bottom and use a heavy tie-down to hold it to the front of the trailer. I then put a pad and a heavy duty tarp over the top and two smaller tie-downs over this. I also use some bungies on the tarp to hold the sides down.

This has worked very well for me so far.

Have a good time.

John

thx John, so you are laying it down on its back I assume?

Yes, the trailer has a ramp gate on it. I roll the unit to the ramp gate with the back of the cooker to the trailer. There are two moving pads on the floor of the trailer; one in the front and one in the back. I then stand in the trailer and lower the FEC down onto the back the trailer. Once down, I move to the legs of the FEC, pick them up and slide the FEC forward until the top of the FEC reaches the front of the trailer. I pull the moving pad at the back of the trailer over the top of the FEC as pointed out in my last message. If you need to, call me at me office at 727-796-0203.

Thx John, I think I got it now... I appreciate the help.

Anytime Kevin.

I took mine to Albany, OR via Medford and back to Boise which added up to a total of 1200 miles....in an open trailer, Standing up. If it's for a long dist. I don't recommend putting the cover on as the buffeting wind may tear out the seams. Easy fix but avoidable.
Joe

hmm.. I am assuming it was extremely strapped down... Since the wheels lock, wouldn't worry about it rolling, just tipping over. Its definately top heavy. Was it the only thing on the trailer? or did you have stuff around it?

Kevin,
We have traveled with ours both standing up and tipped over. I prefer to travel with it tipped over but it takes up too much room in the trailer. Plus the thing is heavy. When we travel with it standing up I wrap it with moving blankets and then with two tie downs around the legs and one across the top through the door handle. When it is on its back we still wrap it with blankets but not as many tie downs. Only thing to watch is hitting a good bump and knocking all of the grates and racks loose. Did that in Great Bend, Kansas and had to straighten some pieces out.

Mark

hmm... It would certainly be easier traveling with it standing up, that way just have to roll it on, and roll it off... But for some reason in an open trailer that just scares me a little.. I'm also guessing it may be a good idea, to take the racks out?

Removing the racks is a good plan.

Remember,we used to haul them upright in Craig's open trailer.

It had a little higher sides,but we strapped it down well.

On the trailer I have, there are two and they are bolted down to the wood deck. Just build something to hold them stead and they travel just fine upright. My only concern sometimes is the open vent facing the 70mph wind, so I cover the vent.

For traveling, I just knock down the insides, take the racks, place them all on the lowest rung and the weight travels fine.

Oh, and don't forget the grease tray. It WILL bounce out if you leave it there. and after cooking in a comp and you didn't empty the tray and left it there, all the bouncing MIGHT make it bounce out and fling grease all over the place. Not that it happened to me, nope, just heard that somewhere. That's my stupid story and I'm sticking too it, no evidence anywhere.

Cooked several contests out of the back of my truck (no trailer). Laid the FE on it's back. Works fine, just make sure nothing can hit the controller knob.

I've hauled my FE standing in the back of my pickup and on an unenclosed trailer. To secure it in an upright position, I bought 4 nice cargo straps (about $40), one pair is used to make a harness of sorts. The first strap goes around the body and throught the door handle. The second under the first strap and over the top to keep the horz first strap in position. Tighten these up and use them to secure the last 2 straps to the truck or trailer. Works for me, your mileage may vary!

Thanks all for the hauling tips.. I ended up renting an enclosed U-Haul, because the flat trailers really looked bad. Anyway, because of the height of the enclosed trailers, I had to lay it on its back to transport it. It was a pain, but there were not any problems.

Also, the FEC did just great at the contest, we took Grand Champion and now I have to put together a more permanant solution for a trailer.