How many of you have been running without a tarp?

Another alternative to bungees is to use shock cord/stretch rope with J hooks, but it can be more time consuming if you don't have anchor points on the frame. I like the versatility of using cord, plus you don't have to worry about hooks damaging things. Central Oregon Trucking Company had some videos online detailing how they tarp with it. If you don't have hooks under your trailer, you can weave it through the spools on the rub rail, or you can use an S hook on the frame to attach it, but it will take more time than using bungees.

You can also cut the cord and make whatever size bungees you want, or even slide the J hook further in to make a rope temporarily shorter.

But I would carry tarps if running the spot market. If I had a consistent customer that didn't require them, I'd leave them at home.

 

Yes. I’d inquire about how much setback there is in this upper seam, for wrapover flaps. That doesn’t look like very much. 12” would be my minimum. 18” would be better. You need that overlap, so water isn’t blowing straight in behind your end drops and soaking your lumber, drywall, etc. With these guys making them to order, they’ll probably do just about whatever you want.

 

I wouldn't cheap out on the tarps, either. I bought 3 off of Amazon to save a little money, and one of them didn't even survive the first use. They were showing signs of cracking where they were folded, the D rings were ripping at the stitching, and the grommets were popping off halfway through the trip. This was on a load of insulation, so it was nice and square and there were no sharp edges to tear it, but the end where things busted ended up ripping because of the flapping.

I've actually hauled very little lumber in 6 years. It tends to be cheap, even direct from the shippers. Most loads I've tarped required only a 4', which was a pain in the ### to tuck or roll the excess on 8' tarps. The loads that paid well tended to be ones that they couldn't find a Conestoga for and people were refusing to load because it would rip their tarps. I've saved some money by repairing my own tarps, but I've also missed out on decent loads for the remainder of that week because I couldn't use them until I could fix them.

Run for a bit without tarps, then see if you feel like they would benefit you.

 

I encourage you to run as many tarp loads as you can. This will leave more "no tarp" loads for me.

Smoke tarp is the only tarp I used in the last 10 years.
48' step. Prior years I would tarp. I had a 3 piece set of light weight tarps. I would haul sheet steel that needed tarps.
I got rid of my tarps when I got a damage claim for water on a galvanized steel coil. I drove thru a monsoon. The coils got wet when I removed the tarps.
Not worth the trouble. No such thing as a keep dry tarp unless you belly tarp before loading.

I have 1 seasonal customer that is 40% of my work. The rest I run load board freight.

 

WTF is a tarp??
There ain’t no work for a step with ramps..

You should sell the ramp kit to buy more tarps!! Lol

 

Make sure you get all the money you can squeeze out. Bout half the steps I see rolling along aren't equipped..

These kits aren't cheap @ about $5500 now, & are manual labor to set up & break down, especially when it's 100°f & humid. It's a ~50' walk carrying (mine are 96"× 20" 23500lb per axle) 96lbs 8 times, then another 4 carrying the 30lb stands back & forth. Don't do for free..

Modular Step Deck Trailer Ramp System - 23,500-lb Weight Capacity - 16" L x 20" | Discount Ramps