So, you wanna be a skateboarder?

I was taught on the shorter loads to roll the bottom of the tarp up under itself the use buggees from the d rings down thru the rub rail and back to the next d ring.
So far i have done it this way for years with no problems.
Yes it is easy to wrap a nice square loads of lumber. But most of us flatbed guys haul many types of loads. You just need to adapt to the changing loads.

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! You 20 minute guys are leaving a couple of things out..... wind and ice.

New Guys, this is how it really goes.

Step 1: Wrassle two heavy (especially if they's full of ice and snow) badly rolled up, slippery, dirty tarps on top of your load. Take 5 minutes to get your heartbeat down and pant,pant,pant.

Step 2: Unroll one tarp (which is fun if it's frozen). Try to figure out if it's the front or back half then cuss cause the last user rolled the #**## thing inside out. This is about when a gust of wind shows up and your unrolled tarp becomes a flying carpet. Jump on it quick or you'll be picking it off the ground. Watch the other end slide over the side. Cuss. 15 min expired (at least). Flip tarp right side out and scurry down to hook bungee or two to keep it from blowing off again.

Step 3: Repeat process for rear tarp. Cuss again when you realize front tarp has to lap over the rear and you now have them backwards. Climb back up and redo tarps. Climb down and secure tarps.... discover that 3 of your bungees have only 1 hook. Try to stretch rest and break at least 1. Wipe tears from eye resulting from broken bungees hitting you on end of nose (at least that's what you tell everyone). Lean against truck and convince yourself you are not really having a heart attack. Pant, pant. Realize your new gloves are now under that back tarp. Trudge back to truck muttering. Consider murdering the shipper's guys who are standing around grinning at you.

Total ET.... 45 min to 90 min if you're lucky. We won't discuss frozen solid straps here. Don't want to discourage y'all.

 

I'm with you kittyfoot. those 20 minute tarpers can prob drive from detroit to atlanta in 8 hrs. too

 

If the tarps are not frozen and the wind is less than 10 MPH and it's about 67 degrees under a nice tree for some shade and I really get cranking and can keep the sweat out of my eyes on a nice squared up load of something like lumber or drywall. I can do one 8 ft drop tarp in about 25 minutes.

 

If it takes you 45 to 90 minutes to tarp a load you need to pull a diffrent trailer, roll your tarps out the wrong way cant ya remember how ya rolled em up, have the forklift put em up on the load for ya,it sounds from your post your a very unorganized person after doing it enough a person should have a system down that works for them, i roll my tarps up and unroll them the same time every time and i check my bungees evey time and get rid of the damaged ones, like i said before i'am not bragging its just what i do it in and if ya dont believe me i dont care.

 

Rbht.... give your head a shake and check your personality. I was quite obviously joking.... you do know what that is right? Methinks your load ain't the only thing that's a little too tightly wrapped. Try Exlax.

Anyhow, the rest of the flatbed world has seen one or two of these "happenstances" occur on any given load. I think there's a "law" about it, "The Perversity of Inaminate Objects"..... The Perverse Misfunctional Nature of any inanimate object (tarps, chains, straps, etc) is the square root to the number of spectators multiplied by ambient weather conditions.... or the more people watching and the worse the weather the more often s--t will not work like it's supposed to.

If there was not such a law, there now is thanks to yours truly. Therefore I expect proper acknowledgement upon use.... cash accepted.

 

Kittyfoot
I believe that may be me the first time I'm out there solo, so not laughing to much! But will try my best not to humor everyone around me too much! But pretty funny story!

Rbht
I believe that once you have been doing things for a while every driver devises thier own routine for tarping and securing a load. But I'm not out there yet but have a question. Is the driver responsible for the bungees or does the company supply those? I know that they do wear out quickly. Are the tarps covered as well? Thanks

 

To answer your question i would believe the company would supply bungees and tarps unless you go through a box of 50 a week or damage a set of tarps every week then there might be an issue but the way some of these outfits are now adays i dont now for sure because i'am an o/o.

 

I thought in would be common sence to think about the weight and weather conditions. You just need to stand back and look at what you are doing. Ok so it takes some people longer to tarp. Thats ok it's up to each person to do the tarping how they want it done. It's all good as long as it's safe.