Well, gang, at this point I have to say I'm sorry, but I have given up on Chapman products.
This past Monday I received my replacement kettle for the one that had the rust issues (see above), and after doing a water test in this new one, it actually has worse rust and defects than the other one.
Here are some pictures.
This is the inside of the kettle, back, where the handle is welded on:
Sorry for the blurry image, but daylight was getting short. This is three large rust spots near the bottom rear of the kettle:
This is not rust, but another pockmark on the inside front of the kettle where the handle is welded on:
Both of the welded on couplings have these types of strange marks, and this weld is pretty discolored (called this out to Steve prior to starting the water test):
I am also having serious problems with the coupling for the ball valve. Despite my best efforts last night I could not get it to seal (and let me tell you, I torqued the hell out of it), and leaving it over night it had lost 1/2 gallon of water. I also had a hell of a time getting anything to screw in to the inside portion of the coupling. Anything I tried would go about a 1/4 turn, get all cockeyed, and then lockup. Just hand tightening a NPT nipple got it stuck so bad I had to use channel locks to unstick it. I tried two different street 90s, and after hitting one with a hammer a couple of times I got it to thread in, but again it would only go about 1/4 turn before locking up. Luckily that 1/4 turn just happened to be the right position so I lucked out there.
When I initially contacted Steve about the leaking he suggested I try it again using more Teflon tape. That's when I went out to drain the kettle, and found the defects inside. I went ahead and wrapped a mile of Teflon tape around it, but again, within about 30 minutes it started leaking again.
I've reached back out to Steve and requested a refund. Again, I've got nothing but positive remarks to say about his customer service, but his products are definitely lacking in quality. As I told him, even at the Kickstarter prices, a rusty kettle is pretty worthless.
Again, just to be perfectly clear, the only thing I've done with this new kettle was let water sit in it for about 24 hours.
I'm keeping the Thermobarrel as I've already modified it, and I sold off the fermenter as soon as it arrived, so now I'm in the market for a new kettle.