[BigV]

Where are you measuring the temperature? Are you using your own thermometer or some built in unit? How long are you waiting for it to get up to temp? You're using it outdoors, of course, is it in a windy area? Shade? Those can soak the heat away from your smoker, just as they do for your body when you're feeling hot.

You don't actually *need* 225 degrees to have great smoked foods come out of your smoker, you can use lower temps, assuming it gets hot enough to make the wood smoke, saturate the food with smoke then finish cooking it inside.

Also, I have a wood fired unit that is just that shape, and I use a long rope of twisted up tinfoil as a crushable gasket around the top of the can/lid to act as a barrier to smoke and heat escaping. The water bowl doesn't limit the maximum temp of the smoker, it just keeps the inside environment moist, which you want; you should keep using it.

You might consider a wireless thermometer that reads the temp inside the meat inside the smoker, closed, and relays that info to your reader. That would give you another temp reading. It is worthwhile making an effort to calibrate your thermometer. The ones installed on the lids are hard to remove and test by using boiling water.