Securing Your Cookshack

move

Yea, its nice not having to lock the front door.

Yeah I'm stuck in shitty KC as well.

slmlc02,
Just a thought,maybe you can lock one end of chain to deck. Then run other end through vent hole and put a lock on it from inside the cooker? I know it would be a small chain, but might keep honest people, honest. I'll think about it a little more today.Good luck, nothing worst than a thief.

If I had to secure my AmQ I'd look into getting a couple of 6 inch "C" channels to run down each sides; take off the wheels and bolt that sucker to the patio. Nothing is really failsafe, but at least it would require time and work.

db

Wow, 10 years in the forum, first I've heard that one.

If it's that bad, can you wheel it back inside somewhere safe after cooking? Or are you worried about it during cooking too.

You might have to find a cabinet to put outside that is more secure and lock that.

Just a quick thought. The chain may rust, how about covered cycle cable, atv cable?

Some of us have bought this cabinet from Sam's Club:

Cabinet

It has locks on the door and drawers. I took the wheels off the Elite and bolted the smoker to the cabinet (5/8" x 1.5"--I believe-- bolts through the wood top into the wheel holes). Once you've got the smoker secure, you can then chain the cabinet to your deck by running the chain through the corner/back of the cabinet on the door side of the cabinet. You'll have to drill through the metal cabinet but you won't be fooling around with the smoker's warrantee that way. You could just run the chain around the front handle, but it can be unscrewed (8 screws).

You could also purchase the stainless steel stand that some have and drill/bolt the smoker to that, then chain the stainless steel stand to the deck. The smoker could be unscrewed from the stand, however.

I'm from Chicago, and the only concern with my cabinet would be how the wood top can be water proofed from the weather. Here are other Cookshack setups that might give you some ideas:

Smoker setups

It's located in the Open Forum under "Show Us Your Smoker Setup".

Pitbull

Smoked-out,
"pitbull",Now thats my way of solving a problem.A person needs to think about where his shoes may lead him.(lol)

Just an idea and a bad one at that but it depends on how desperate you are. I took a look at a picture of an SM020 on cookshack.com. It seems to me that the wheels and the area where the wheels are mounted are the only safe area to drill.

If I was desperate, I would drill a small hole about in inch away from one of the wheels. I would then buy some very strong wire and create a small loop. Then buy a long chain with two padlocks. Use one padlock to attach one end of the chain to a pole or something. The other end you attach the chain, padlock, and loop together. Visualize, an animal with a nose ring and a chain on the nose ring that is attached to a post. The animal is your smoker.

The reason it is a bad idea, I assume you would void your warranty plus the area might contain insulation or something important.

You can not be the only person with this issue. Call customer service and ask them. They might come up with something inventive without voiding the warranty.

El

I must have OCED. I could not stop thinking about this.

I came up with an easy solution. This does not include drilling into your smoker. This means your warranty is ok. You need to get

Long chain
Big padlock
Small padlock
Big eye bolt

Basically, use the vent hole in your smoker as an anchor. Think of my animal nose ring analogy but this time the nose ring is the eye bolt sticking out of your smoker vent hole.

All you need to do is drill a hole in the eye bolt. Drill a hole in the eye bolt where the thread is located. Then all you do is stick the eye bolt into the vent hole. The eye will stick out of the smoker. The part with the thread will be in the smoker. Use the small padlock to secure the eye bolt into the smoker. The small padlock goes into the hole you drilled. Then just run your chain through the eye and use the big padlock to secure the chain to a poll.

El

Thanks to those of you who really put some thought into this. I've got some ideas myself but just wanted to see what the other brilliant minds out there were thinking. If you have other ideas, feel free to pass them along.

Thanks!

a very loud motion sensor alarm mounted behind the smoker; of course this only works if someone is around to hear it, tho' a timid thief might get scared and run.

db

I would build some type of permanent enclosure. It will keep it secure and safe from the elements. The chain/cable could work but you risk pissing off the thief and possibly incurring some frustration damage. The more permanent you make it the less likely anyone will waste the time.

Maybe you could try a cable lock. lock one end to your deck. Stick the other end through the vent hole and put a lock through the loop on the inside of the smoker.

Thanks for the idea Mad_Angler, but the vent hole isn't big enough. Right now I am using two cable locks. One around the unit's sides and the other around the unit's top and bottom.

Sorry to bump an old thread. But just ordered our first SM025 + accessories yesterday and we live downtown Indianapolis so the same security concerns here. While we have video surveillance that doesn't appear to deter some criminals around here from stealing stuff (like packages off people's front porches). So we too will need to fashion some kind of security system. More so when we are actually cooking as I can move the smoker into our garage (which is tied to our alarm system) when not in use. Has anyone made any progress in this area? Are there any retrofits to attach to the smoker?

I can understand wanting to safeguard your smoker from 'walking off'. You might want to invest in a stainless steel serving or utility cart on wheels. These usually have one or two shelves. Drilling holes through the top of the cart bolt the smoker to the cart through the holes in the legs. Use lock tight to secure and lock down the threads. Then, with an angle grinder, round off the bolt heads. A heavy chain either welded to the cart or looped around the frame and then anchored to an eye bolt anchored to your driveway or a framing stud on your house or garage and padlocked should do the trick.

A link to posts concerning carts:

http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...412933937#6412933937

You might want to post there and see if any have photos of their set-up.

Thanks, great ideas!

something i thought of is that you could get a disclock. Like the ones for motorcycles drill a hole in your cart and attach it.

if anything bumps it a alarm would sound. i dont know 100% if it would work or not. but.... it would be interesting

quote:

Originally posted by 3shot:
something i thought of is that you could get a disclock. Like the ones for motorcycles drill a hole in your cart and attach it.

if anything bumps it a alarm would sound. i dont know 100% if it would work or not. but.... it would be interesting

That is a nice idea. Had not thought of an alarm.