Roy,
Great to hear the Ryobi worked as planned. As I mentioned, I missed the Ryobi when searching. The warranty and slightly larger tank would have been a big selling feature for my decision. I just stated what helped me decide on the Brute over the Champion. I wondered about the startup watts also. Though the Brute with the sale price and rebate is about $100 cheaper vs the Ryobi. Just wish we had an easy way to carry our Troy Bilt XP7000 (no, not for use in cg's!!!).
As for your quiet box, I found a YouTube video where a guy just used sheets of wood (can't recall exactly what he used!!!) and leaned them up against the generator at the top. The sheets were a little longer, guessing 4' or so, and directed the noise into the ground which absorbed a lot of it. I will try to find the video again. My thought was to line the wood with the heat resistant foil probably similar to what you did for your generator box.
Sounds like the heat was brutal. Hope it was a fun time still.
