Evaporator input

[kitkat]

Looking to purchase a new evaporatpr this year. No bigger than 2'x4' due to tap count of around 75.
I like the looks of the Smokey Lake but would like raised flues. I now have a divided pan 2'x3' and looking to upgrade.
Also thinking about staying with propane to the ease of use. I can build the arch if needed.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[maple flats]

I've only heard good things about Smokey Lake evaporators. However the only thing I have of theirs so far is a Murphy Cup, but the workmanship is top notch. I do however plan to get a Water Jacketed Canner by them in a year or 2.

[buckeye gold]

I bought a smokey lake hybrid hobby pan ( full pint) two seasons ago and i can't say anything bad about it, it cooks like heck and has held up well. If i had anything to add I'd like a drain in the flues. It still looks good and cooks good. I had a friend who was a union welder ( built blast furnaces for 30 years) help me rebuild my arch last year and his opinion was the pan was a fine piece of workmanship.

My one suggestion is to modify your arch to get as much heat froward as possible. Jim squeezes every fraction of an inch into boiling space and the front section of mine was a bit hard to keep a hard boil in with the additional partition to establish a syrup section in the small pans. However, with some simple work of redirecting my blower air and bumping the arch out a few inches she boils hard all over. Your arch may be different and work fine, I had an old half pint and the divided sections ran the length of the firebox so heat placement wasn't so critical. when I put the hybrid pan on it mattered because of the cross flow. So I moved the flue wall back added more air with better dispersal and lengthened my firebox forward 8". I push coals back and keep my fire forward for the most part and I can make her rumble. If I am real diligent with my firing i can maintain 16-17 GPH after I bring it to full heat and that's some hard boiling for a small pan. Most days I'm lazy with my firing and run around 10-14 GPH. I run between 75-125 taps most years.