How to install your Smokin' Seal

The Smokin' Seal™ is designed to fit over the ceramic rim and the steel band that holds the hinge assembly. If you received an untrimmed gasket, follow the complete trimming guide here.  Even if you purchased a pre-trimmed Smokin' Seal™, you may still need to put a few finishing touches on it. Some Primo grill configurations have capnuts on the band, while others don't. Based on our best information to date, all Oval XL variants we've encountered with the "Easy Lift" hinge system have at least 2 capnuts on the band. We pre-trim for just one of these because the location of the 2nd one can vary depending upon how tight the band is set. For the Oval XL with Classic and Oval Large with the Easy Lift hinges we do not pre-trim for any capnuts since many of these configurations that we've seen do not have any extra capnuts on the band, but some of them do. YMMV.

The Smokin' Seal has an outside "leg" and an inside "leg". Be sure to trim the (longer) outside "leg", as shown in this photo:

When trimming the material, use care not to cut too much material out. For for the Smokin' Seal™ designed for Primo Grill applications, this is about 3/4". For simple reference, this is just above the 4th rib on the inside of the leg.

1. Make sure you have removed any old gasket material from the base of your grill. The Smokin' Seal is not designed to fit properly over any existing gasket material (you may be able to get away with leaving the upper gasket in place, on your lid, but we'll get to that later). 
2. Pre-trim configurations by grill
   Oval XL/Easy-Lift will have 4 pre-trimmed zones - 1 capnut, 2 hinge cuts (longer, rectangular cuts), and then the double notches for the band ends.
   Oval XL/Classic will have 3 pre-trimmed zones - 2 hinge cuts and 2 notches for the band ends
   Oval Large/Easy-Lift will have 3 pre-trimmed zones - 2 hinge cuts and 2 notches for the band ends.
   
   
3. We find it easiest to start placing the gasket at the band ends, then work counter-clockwise  towards the front of the grill to get that segment seated, then go back and install it over the hinges on the backside of the grill and work clockwise until it lands back at the front of the grill.  
   
   If you encounter any capnuts or other band obstacles on the way, mark and trim for those. Step 4 shows how to do that. If you don't have any more obstacles to trim for, skip to Step 5 and trim the gasket for length. Hint: To make it easier to place the Smokin' Seal™ on the rim of the base, pry the legs of the Smokin' Seal™ apart with your fingers and put it on the rim of the base.
4. NOTCHING THE GASKET 
   First, have a look at this photo to get an idea of where you will need to be making cuts on your Smokin' Seal ™ gasket. Depending upon your grill configuration, your first obstacle may be a small capnut, or it could be the ends of your bands. Either way you will need to trim around the obstacle and make sure the gasket sits nicely around it.
   

   
   

   Capnut Notch

5. TRIMMING FOR LENGTH
   
   The following video shows how to properly trim for length
   
   

To add to the video content if you see excessive rippling on the interior wall of the gasket or if the gasket itself seems to want to "roll" over outside the mounting surface you may need to trim the length just a little bit more.