Conestoga: worthy investment?

They are typically dedicated to specific frieght. I'm sure you know, but just to reiterate, you can't load to wide of frieght, or too tall.

They make tarping quick and easy. (as long as the tracks are smooth)

The fact that curtain sides, Conestogas and covered wagons are everywhere across America, says the frieght for them is abundant and you'll have little issues getting a load.

 

It can limit your freight at times. lots of shippers will simply not load them. OD is out with most. And it is rare that you will load (or even want to) van freight. That stuff is just to cheap these days.

With that, I can tarp and untarp in less then 2 mins. If it's cold or hot that is nice. If you like heavy loads you can run coils all day long. I don't like heavy. sometimes you have to sell shippers on Conestoga because they just don't know. I'm not here to say it's worth it or not. I'm lazy and it was worth every penny to me.

Good luck.

 

Conastogas will limit your freight. My miles have gone down since I got my conastoga.

Had to set this down on my v boards to get it to fit and still had to take the exhaust flapper off. Shipper was about to send me away but we figured it out.

 

You can do oversize with the right curtain trailer.

 

Ya, some manufacturers make a "run open" option.

 

You can run closed and oversized.

 

I've owned one of mine for over 10 years, I own two. Had 1 shipper said he wouldn't load it, found out that his yard crew had destroyed one at some point in the past. Can't say enough good about them. Having them has got me more work than I would have gotten from a flat. As you can already tell, your results may vary.

 

Over length sure, just tie the rear flap up. But how are you gonna close it over a wide load?