Ratchet straps for tarps?

There are a lot of good suggestions here on different ways to stop the flapping, including experience. I hardly ever strap over my tarps, except in extreme conditions. I also use rope with a few bungees when the tarp refuses to cooperate. I just use cheap 3/8 from Home Depot, about 10 bucks for 50 or 75 feet. I have ripped the rings off tarps with just bungee cords so I don't think using any kind of rachet strap on them would be a good idea.

 

The more bungees the merrier

 

That will help a lot. Try to get the tarp to touch the deck to block out the air from getting under it, all around the trailer. Straps can also push out the tarp and make a gap for air to get in. If air can get in, then road spray can get in, and that can mean bad news.

 

I like the idea of the 2x4 wrapping the loose end of the flap.

 

the big question maybe I missed it but what are you tarping, pipes, lumber drywall ect even squared loads aren't that bad, but odd ball machinery and fabricated stuff is hard to tarp. Pull to hard on a tarp with an odd ball load and you will shred your tarps let them flap to much and you'll shred your tarps. Its a gentle mix and you'll have to find it with experience. I use a mixture of rope and bungees depending on the load. With some of the bigger loads I use small ratchet straps and if I have a wild corner ill use them. Remember you want your tarp snug not to tight not to loose and try to keep as much air out from under it as possible. Strapping over the load does help in some cases

 

Tight against load, everything on rear tarp pulling slightly forward and front tarp pulling slightly back. when you roll out rear tarp put two to three bungees on little flaps then pull tarp tight from front end put 2 bungees together, hook to tarp d rings and flop them over the side so you can hook em up tight pulling forward from the ground, sometimes i even bungee that rear tarp to a strap, just gotta remember to pull that strap when you untarp. If you gotta weird load you can use bungees on the upper d rings and pull the slack which
ever way works best, after a few hundred times you will get your own system down, and your loads will tarp fast and get you better fuel mileage, lol.

 

I regularly use 1" ratchet straps along with bungees, rubber rope and climbing rope. If you look at the picture below you can see the blue 1" straps. On this particular load I used 24 total, 5 down each side, and the remainder on the ends. One word of caution, you can (and likely will the first few times) put more pull than the D-rings/sewn seam can handle and will at the least rip a D-ring off and at worst rip the tarp along the sewing line on the webbing.



Another thing to look at, about the middle of the load you'll see some bungees pulling from higher up. That's where this piece is widest and due to the design there's no way to get the tarp tight against the load. I use one bungee running front to back across the part that likes to balloon with one on each end pulling down and away from the horizontal bungee. Then I add two at every D-ring between those attachment points pulling front and back.

With something that is 13' 6" tall itself that's open framework there is no way to keep air from under the tarp especially considering this is a stretch RGN that's open down the center of the trailer. Without the 1" straps and the creative horizontal bungee work this thing blows up like a giant balloon then removes itself from the load. I have seen when another driver attempted to "set a record" for how fast this load could be tarped and busted 100 bungees as the tarp destroyed itself leaving the load.

 

I use a combination of bungee cords and shock cord usually. I also have a roll of rubber rope regilar rope, and furniture pads duct tap and a hammer stapler. As Catalina flyer said on certains loads it is tough to avoid getting lots of air in it. Usually when I have a load that is catching too much wind and I know I will be running ind windy areas I run a second strand of shock cord or more bunges to increase the amount of energy holding the tarp without over burdending any one d ring. It would be nice to always have just drywall or square lumber loads because the tarp jobs on those are easy. One you get into oddball shaped items all the standard rules and techniques are out the door.