Thanks a ton, FlyGuy. After a couple of trips to Lowe's and Menard's I finally got mine all setup.
FYI, for anyone attempting this with an igloo cooler, I added the following (in order from inside to outside)
starting from the cooler back to the thread of the 1.5" nipple on the inside:
the rubber washer that came in the spigot gasket of the cooler
5/16" rubber washer (Menard's - this should fit *very* snugly on the 3/8" nipple)
8 5/8" stainless fender washers (Menard's - the only ones that I could find were literally only about 1/32" thick)
Starting from the cooler back to the thread of the 1.5" nipple on the inside:
5/16" rubber washer (Menard's - this should fit *very* snugly on the 3/8" nipple)
2 5/8" hardened zinc flat washers (Menard's - these suckers are 1/8" thick)
I just made these changes before I took off to coach my daughter's tee-ball game (tournament week), I came back 3 hours later and not a drop had leaked out. I'm very stoked aout going AG, so thanks again FlyGuy.
I don't have a boil kettle large enough to use for full boils yet (my current kettle is only 22qt), but I plan on using it for a PM this week as a trial run.
inside closeup:
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outside closeup:
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braid (20 inch):
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front view:
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