Best way to adjust to opening hatches on bulk trailer?

You will hardly never open all four hatches to load all my loads are loaded in #3 sometimes 2 &3. You got to have (own one) a harness almost all companies require you have one on or your not allowed to come on the property. The harness goes around groin and are like a belt it will fit you. If you are very over weight and climbing is hard for you I would suggest another job you will have to climb a lot. Also about fifty percent of the companies do all the loading but you still have to check the hatches to make sure they are tight. Now at tank washes are the most dangerous none have fall protection you will have to open everything up and close everything to blow out this is where all the work is. all ladders are on the rear of the trailer you walk to the front opening the front hatch first working your way to the back then down the ladder. once loaded start in the rear closing the hatches going forward never step over a hatch . Just use your head on windy days park next to building or wait to get inside the tank wash to open the hatches. I have crawled but it kills your knees but not often. be safe

 

Since it sounds like you will be hauling dry bulk in pneumatic tanks, it's not as bad as it sounds. I pull a pneumatic tank, and everywhere that I go to has a hatch opener station. They are located before and after the silos that we load in, since we only open one lid to get loaded. The cage is somewhere between 5-6 wide square that you are able to hold onto while on top of your trailer. There are a lot of overweight drivers at the places that I load at, so don't let it scare you away. Just remember in the winter to take your time. There is usually a pipe that runs along both sides of the top of a pneumatic tank, that I usually put atleast one foot against in the winter, so not standing on top of tank with both feet so there is less of a chance of slipping.

 

Yak Traks
Google those, they might come in handy for you.

 

They work,

I wore out a set of the coils, my new set are made of dog chain. YAKTRAC works!

 

In bulk tanker the first commandment is drain thy air.

If you do not double check that drain is open, you will be flung a long distance to your death or vegetative state once you pull enough of the lugs on the hatch.

 

You said this company hauls sand, so am I safe to assume it's frac sand? If so, I can tell ya, it's not hard to learn. I've been doing it for years.

I remember worrying about plugging up when I first started as well, but it's not a big deal. As you learn to operate your trailer, you'll plug up every now and then. Just idle your pump, unhook the hose from the box, remove rubber gasket (unless you want to chase it all over location), and then blow it out. Hook back up and resume unloading, but this time don't open your product valve as far, as that's what caused it to plug up in the first place.

After you get used to unloading, and figure out what your setup will and won't do, you'll rarely plug up.

As for climbing, most (but not all) places these days have one of those hatch opening things with a rail around it to keep you from falling. I personally never use them because they take longer than just running up the ladder and opening a couple of lids real quick, but some folks love 'em. They are safer, I suppose.

And x1Heavy is right. Make sure your vent is open and all pressure is out of the trailer before you ever climb up there. Although I can't think of any reason you'd need to open a hatch while the tank is pressured up anyway.

It's a fun job. I love it. Might wanna invest in some ear plugs though.....