Flatbedders, looking for a little advice.

Well IMO the best tarp to use is the one you never touch!


But....if you must hand tarp, yes use the smallest one that will do the job. I think you can get by with just a set of 8' lumber tarps and a small set of steel tarps. If you find yourself hauling a lot of other stuff like coils, coil bags are a huge time saver also and pretty cheap.

If anyone is going to buy tarps I strongly suggest you buy them from a company that had stainless steel "D" rings. Last set we bought spent the first 6mo of their life in the toolbox and when they were finally used the new tarps were totally streaked with rust. GRRRRR

 

Another tip is when you get your tarps unroll them and check them before you first take them to ensure their in good order this also allows you to fold them up the way you like them to make them easier to roll out on the load.

To this day I still can't understand why tarp companies fold their new tarps all retarded. nothing like lookin like a noob on top of your load tryin to figure out that folded up puzzle only to throw it on the ground unfold it then fold it the right way to put it bck on the load. Don't lie it has gotten us all at least once.

And as far as choosing the right tarp goes remember a 4 foot tarp can cover a load taller than 4 foot. If the load doesn't go all the way to the edge of the trailer. Lets say you have a square load of lumber on that is 6 feet tall but when on the trailer it is 1 foot from the edge on both sides. A 4 footer will cover this since you gained the 2 feet from the sides.

Coil bags can be used on more than coils. I have lost track of the number of loads i've hauled where 1 tarp was just short of covering the last 2 pallets of goods. Why roll out another whole tarp. If you have decent size coil bags you can just throw a bag over the last 2 pallets and roll.

Same goes for a smoke tarp you can use it for a front end cap on all types of stuff instead of rolling out another 24' long tarp to just cover the end of something.

 

You'll also find out that there is no such thing as common sense with loads that "need" to be tarped. Sure some stuff needs covered and protected from the weather but we've had to tarp scrap coils, shingles, junk lumber, rebar. I saw a guy who had to smoke tarp a load of pipe and he had undercab exhaust. There's no room for common sense with most places. We've only dealt with a hand full of places that just said "keep dry". If it's raining/snowing tarp it, if it's nice don't bother.

 

when i was flatbedding at a lumber yard i did two things and i never lost a load. the first, ASK for advice if you're not 100% sure. i liked flatbedding because i had such a sense of pride knowing how to strap the loads on, strapping loads on top of other strapped loads and knowing i was safe. always always check your mirrors and make sure straps arent flapping around and everything is how you put it. if you even second guess yourself, stop, pull over, double check everything.

 

I love those aluminum bleacher seats with all the sharp edges that have to be taped over before you tarp them or they'll shred the tarps. You get them all the way to the destination and they take them off the truck and lay them right on the ground outside.

 

Here you go fellows:

http://www.ccmta.ca/english/pdf/cargo_driver_handbook.pdf

 

Another Big tip on hauling brick is to become a weather man. If it is going to rain you will want to tarp your brick. Brick will gain 3% to 10% of it's total weight when it gets wet.

It all depends on the type of brick it is on how much it will gain in weight.

Also for some reason that I can not explain Iowa Scale Masters want brick tarped. Iowa is the only state from CO. and west that has made me pull behind the scale just to make me tarp my brick. He did a load check and didn't find any loose brick, and he was happy with how I had the load secured. After the check he just told me he wanted brick tarped in his state and that I could leave as soon as I threw a rag over the load.

 

Georgia also requires brick to be tarped.