So, you wanna be a skateboarder?

Tighten a strap by putting your foot on the bar once. When your foot slips off and tags ya you'll learn.

 

Yeah, i know this thread is old, but I've been gone awhile, so I'm going to put in my $.02.
There are only two types of trucking I'll consider; flatbedding and car hauling. Throughout my career, those are the two I've done most, with flatbedding filling up about 13 years of it. The rest was car hauling with a smattering of hopper bottoms, tanker, chip and in a huge moment of unexplainable weakness, reefer. Well, the second stint dragging a reefer was the moment of weakness. The first stint was because I was brand spankin' new and didn't know any better. I have no use for dragging a trailer that needs fuel.

I remember I loaded at Hauser Lumber years ago. The wind was pretty high and Hauser was big on the load being tarped before leaving the premises. I asked if I could take the truck someplace less windy and tarp and they agreed (I worked for a company that hauled a lot of their lumber at the time), so I moved over to the Flying J. The wind was blowing in a direction that allowed me to pull between two other trucks so it was blocked.
My ex and I started rolling out the tarps and, as it would have to happen, the wind shifted and now we were in a freaking wind-tunnel. I told the ex to bungee the tarp to anything she could get a hook in. We got the tarp tied down enough to where I could get down and start straightening things out. She had bungees hooked everywhere, including the wheels. Long story short; I'm not sure how, but that tarp job turned out to be one of the tightest I have ever done, and I'm picky.

 

I was away from fladbedding for awhile, came back to a local co, that hauls mostly their own product, but some other, heavy haul, od and the like.

When I was pulling flat otr and irregular lanes, I learned that helping other drivers make it faster for ALL of us. Head 'em up and move 'em out. And regretfully, it was usually the TMC drivers who sat in their trucks and watched other drivers roll up, EVEN THOSE FROM THEIR OWN COMPANY! I didn't get it.

Now that I'm doing this again (sans tarp, so far!) and guessing that I'm a chick, had to get back on board without help of any kind. I almost thought that they were somewhere just out of sight, but could still see me, watching if I could do it.

It wasn't easy, but it was like riding a bicycle. Still hard as hell, but the boys are softening up a bit, and I'm asking lots of questions, cause I never had the opportunity to haul OD before. They appreciate that and like to share their years of skills.

After the first week, I thought I was gonna die. Laid on the couch for 48 hours almost unable to stand. (No ladder, was climbing up on the deck dragging chains and boomers up and down!) But my fladbedding background has created an "I don't let nothin' whoop me" attitude, and it's getting better.

It's good to be home....

 

i started out pulling reffers then dry vans for several years and thought there has to be something better than this.Well my neighbor has 2 trucks and 2 flt beds he pulls 1 he fired his driver and asked me if i wanted to pull flt beds i did . i dont work for my neighbor any more but im still pulling those flt beds and i have never looked back

 

Just left tanks, I have very limited experience with flatbeds but now I'm going to work for a company pulling flats and step-decks. I think I'll be hauling alot of pipe, but we'll see. I do know most of the work is centered around the gas and oil fields here in PA.

 

At least most of the time pulling a skate board you dont have to sit at shippers and receivers for 8 to 13 hours at a time, man i hated that with dry van and refer i dont run otr now but if i did it again skate board would be the way to go.

 

I was an ironworker for 14 years before I started driving. was laid off for 2 years and my wife and kids convinced me I should get my CDL, and start driving. I went to a school in Las Vegas, and they pushed for a few starter companies. I chose one of them (White Trucks with a big "S" on the side) because they had a flatbed fleet. I have to admit, you can NOT teach someone to be a flatbedder. I did watch my trainer and how he did things his way, and modified them to make things easier for me.
I love pulling a flatbed. have been stuck on a few van loads, and couldn't unhook the ###### thing from my truck fast enough. Bumps, bruises, cuts, and sitting here now with my foot in a splint, always trying to figure out "how'd that happen?" Wouldn't change to driving a van for anything. Flatbedders, no matter what company they are with aren't afraid to help out someone green like me, even if it is just saying "what the hell are you doing" to help catch a mistake. no matter WHAT you have done in the past, flatbedding takes the cake. Used to unload the steel as it would come onto a job site, put the building together, and think "#### those truckers have it easy". I still get harassed by my old ironworker buddies for the career change. same camaraderie, only I don't have to sit on those 150 degree beams waiting for the next one to fly up.

 

skatebording is where the moneys at thats how i started out at the ripe age of 18

 

I did skateboarding for almost 5 years. I enjoyed it most of the time. Thankfully I never broke anything. I did in fact wear my knees out from all the skating.

 

A driver with a load getting wet because his tarps were torn up said to me, "Look what this load did to my tarps!" Whether they were company tarps or my own, I always took care in protecting them from getting torn up. When I first started flatbedding ('94) I watched and learned from watching the experienced men flatbedders. It seems everyone has their favorite method for protecting their tarps from tears, like pieces of carpet, old mudflaps, even disposable diapers!

One Friday night in PA I pulled into a place where they had stayed late to load me. It was freezing cold, snowing, and dark after they finished loading the brand new pieces of machinery for the military. A couple of the pieces were even pretty high and each item was individually photographed and wrapped in plastic sheeting before instructing me not to scratch the paint and then driving off leaving me alone in the dark to chain and tarp the load.

At times there were advantages to being a woman flatbedder and this was one of them. There were several sharp places all over this load and with everything already wrapped in slick sheeting to protect the machinery from the falling snow and wanting to get this done as quickly as possible using my pieces of carpet wasn't an option. Then it dawned on me. I got a large box of 24 feminine pads out of the truck and before you know it I had peeled off the wax strips and slapped all 24 into place.

When I pulled up to this big warehouse where the guard at the AZ military base had told me to park and pull my tarps, I purposely parked quite a ways from the building so no one would notice my creative tarp protectors. But a group of 6 or 7 young men came walking out to help me pull my tarps! I tried to tell them I was OK and really didn't need any help. They just insisted, explaining, "It's not because you're a woman we came out here to give you a hand; we do this for all the flatbed drivers. It gives us a chance to take a cigarette and bull#### break." I told them, "Fine, but absolutely no laughing."