The fire basket area of that cooker seems awfully similar to the design of a modified el cheapo brinkmann vertical bullet smoker (like the old Brinkmann Gourmet). I used one of those bullets for a couple years early in my BBQ addiction, and it worked really well using the minion method.
I would fill up the basket with briqs, or a mix of lump and briqs, with chunks of wood mixed and buried within the unlit fuel. Then I would light up a dozen or so briqs in a chimney starter and dump them on top of the unlit basket of fuel. Within 20 minutes or so, it would be ready for cooking, and I could easily get 8 hours of cooking time running at 275ish.
I made a lot of very good food on that bullet smoker. Most of the time, I did not use water in the pan though, I had a terra cotta platter wrapped in foil that I would set in the water pan. That worked well to keep too much direct heat off the meat without keeping the cooker from running at hotter temps like a large water pan might do.