Crash course on tarping.. Experienced tarpers please chime in

I just had to buy a box of 31" Sri-Lankan bungees because that's all Truckpro carries in Tulsa. Normally I only by Kinedyne but when you need something now you have to take what you can get. I paid $64.00 for a box of 50 which is pretty decent pricing, the hooks were already pinched BUT the metal the hooks are made from is soft, I've already had about 20 of them pull the hooks straight in 775 miles. I'm headed out today to find Kinedyne here in the Chattanooga area and toss the Sri-Lankan's in the garbage can. They are holding a hell of a stretch but when the hook straightens before the rubber breaks, the metal is no good.

 

Wow, I've never had a hook straighten on me. That's really odd.

 

I wish I hadn't thrown the box away they came in so I could look at the brand again. I have never had multiple hooks straighten on me but these ones are horrid. The metal is so soft I can hook one on a d-ring and with one hand pull the other end of the bungee and the hook will straighten and let go. For comparison, the last Kinedyne's I bought my teenagers couldn't pinch the hook with 15" slip joint pliers, they wound up using a brass hammer and a concrete block to close the hooks. Fortunately I'm on there verge of being on an episode of Hording so I have saved every hook that has ever been attached to a broken bungee so I have been able to replace all but 7 of them. Has kept me busy today since I'm parked here at the Georgia state line till Monday morning. I changed out my batteries this morning then started changing hooks. Now it's too warm and muggy to be out working so I'm in the bunk building another quad-copter doing a little house cleaning.

 

Ya, just about every bungee I've used where I pinched the small ends shut I could only do 20 or so before I'd have to take a break they took that much force with good sized channel lock. I started thinking about going into the shop and asking them to use the press and make up a jig for em. Heh. At least they were kind of cheap money wise so you didn't sink TOO much money into the junk.

 

I always make my kids pinch them, keeps them out of my hair for a few minutes but the last time they couldn't do it with the pliers so I gave them a heavy brass hammer and a concrete block, took them all of 5 minutes to pinch 100 hooks. As for the Sri-Lankan bungees, I have no complaint about the rubber, they are holding one heck of a stretch. I was going to just buy more Kinedyne's today but I knew I had a bag full of hooks so I just went around the load changing hooks and all is good now (except my hand is shot from pinching all of them).

 

I picked up the load I have now yesterday at one of the many bentonite plants in Wyoming. The kid in front of me in line had never driven a flatbed before and had absolutely no idea what he was doing. The trailer he is leasing came with a few straps and 2 8' drop tarps. He still had pipe steaks set up on his trailer. We had to use a sledge hammer and a crow bar to get them out, but at leas the loader wont be cussing him. I told him if he was still working on it when I got to the tarping station that I would give him a hand. It took the loader 45 minutes to get me loaded, I think he was getting pallets from Kansas. When I got to the tarping station this kid only had 3 straps on and was worn out. He would throw a strap over, walk around the truck, pull it through the ratchet, climb up on the truck and pull the loose end back up over the pallet, climb down and tighten the ratchet. Next strap... I helped him get his straps over then had him throw his tarps up. Told him to get his bungies. He bought $200 worth at a truck stop at $3-$4 a piece. I am like others and horde supplies. Another driver and I donated a bundle of bungies each so that he could get his load secure and tarped right. Had him do all the work but made sure that he was doing it right. He ended up with a pretty nice looking load. He said that he would help me with mine since I helped him. I whipped out my 4' drop tarps (He didnt know that there was such a thing.) and got to work. I never realized how much faster I have gotten at tarping since my first effort which took me 4 hours and still had to be redone twice more on the way.


By the way. That is a fine job of tarping on your first load. Something to be proud of.

 

YUP, a brass and block is exactly how I do them at home. I also had to buy a box of 21" on the road this week. I pinched all 50 of them with my vise grips and my hand is sore as heck. Not sure what brand they are, got them at Iowa 80 but they are very elastic and the hooks seem strong. I've had a few hooks go straight on me and it hurts like HELL-O when the bungie hits ya

 

I have put them into the vice in the garage....

 

I use an xl Channel-Locs.