Cobb Cooker- I need help.

I purchased a Cobb Cooker at the last Rosehill 4WD an camping show and despite several attempts and experiments, iI have to say I'm not happy with the results.
Let me set the scene.
At our age, travelling this wide land, eating good food and drinking fine wines is very important to us.
At home, I use a conventonal BBQ but more often than not I use my trusty Webber Kettle unit for everything except steak, lamb cutlets and lamb chops which I prefer to do on the ceramic/open grill side of the conventional BBQ.
For the past three years, in the bush, I have used a mini Weber or "smokey-joe" and while not quite as versatile as its big brother I have produced some memorable meals. (Rack of Lamb, Rack of Pork, easy carve lamb and medium rare porter house steaks.) The down side is that it requires a reasonable quantity of heatbeads, is biggish, dirty and difficult to stow for carrying.
So enter the Cobb, but for the life of me I can't come close to what I am used to.
The racks of meat take an eternity to cook, tend to burn on the bottom and that tasty but unhealthy layer of crispy fat is completely missing. The savings I make on the heat beads is more than lost in the extra red we consume in the waiting.
I've tried different quantities of beads, rasing the roast off the plate on a cake rack, etc etc without sucess.
As for my attemtp at grilling steak, that was hopeless.
Please help. What do I need to do. Please be gentle as SWMBO reads this forum and is demanding better food!