I have used block for the past four years. The biggest improvement I made was to line the inside of the block with brick, both block and brick mortared together. I made a solid concrete rear block that fits 6" stove pipe , and added a door with hinges (tapcon screws to the block). I'm happy with my 7 gph rate. No reason to change yet. If I wanted more production I could expand the unit to 4 pans.
Two 2x4 concrete block arches with three steam trays each
Tapping in Mount Vernon since 2016, 30 to 70 taps, 5/16" tube to 1.5 to 3.5 gallon buckets, some trees on collective gravity tubing to 5 gallon buckets.
Mostly sugar maples, a few reds on 200 year old homestead