Hi Scotty, I found a SS smoker built just like yours, and found out that my first effort should not be an 18lb. turkey....

Talk about an all day deal...
The wife always says go big or go home: Heck! I am home
Here is some of what I learned:
1. Load that sucker with as much charcoal as it will possibly hold
2. Soak your chips as you have indicated
3. you can fill the upper bowl with wine, onions or other flavor enhancing items
4. Watch your heat indicator and walk away
5. go build something...
Problem issues I have had, Item your cooking is going to take awhile ie: Turkey ...Problem is you add charcoal through the little door ,which is a pain. I ended up using a huge metal spoon of some sort to place coals where I wanted them...secondly , this will be a good modification for you to patent...

When my bottom coal pan is finally dying down and the ash is already deep it kinda smothers its to where the heat is way down, so I think it needs some kind of raised coal grille so the ash can fall through to the bottom of the pan to keep the coals kick'n out the heat... Maybe yours has this mine was bought second hand at a yard sale...

and I haven't done much about it yet...
I thought about using my leaf blower to blow the ash away from the pan exposing the hot coals but I don't think anybody would want to eat the meat after that...
But anyhow we have successfully smoked goose, & turkey although the turkey ended up a little dry from taking so long, it still had good smoked flavor...Once you get the hang of it...Let us know how it went...