If I were in it for the money...

...I would have quit yesterday.

So I am cruising down a state highway in MN, and look back just as my back tarp rips off in fury of broken bungees. Three feet of front tarp overlay and a couple dozen (frozen) inner tube bungees where no match for a 40 mph head wind while traveling at 63 mph.

Luckily, I was able to get stopped before the entire tarp came loose and cost the company a couple hundred dollars to hire somebody to lift it back up. Unfortunately, I was now sitting on the side of a four-lane highway in high winds, snow, and single digit temperatures (-29 with the wind chill) with a lumber tarp doubled back over my load of ceiling tiles.

I couldn't pull myself on top of the load since the front tarp was slick with ice, besides the winds would have blown me right off the side of the 13-4 load. Only thing I could do was throw some straps to keep the wind from taking it off the rest of the way. Even that was a challenge as the wind would just grab the strap midair and take off with it. I had to wait for a lull in wind and traffic, step back into the road for proper trajectory and let it fly. Once I knew it made it to the other side, I'd run around the back of my trailer and grab the strap before the wind did. Not fun.

Finally got it winched down and nursed it up the road a few miles to a small truck stop. Managed to get my tail to the wind and it blew my tarp back the other way. Bungeed the crap out of it and restrapped using the same throw and dash method, minus the traffic.

Moral of the story: Inner tube bungees = crap, don't be a flatbedder if your only in it for the money, and remember you have to be at least 10% smarter than whatever you're working with.

 

Bungees are NEVER used for load securement, but for securing tarps over the load. I always strap my load before tarping, I like seeing where my straps are going rather than blindly throwing them over a tarp. I have never had a tarp problem before, though I never had to deal with these types of conditions before either. If my company would just buy real bungees and stop using this inner tube crap it would save a lot of headaches.

This load was a PITA from go. Most ceiling tile loads are loaded, strapped , and tarped before we ever get there but not this time. It was the weekend and the guy loaded it, lifted the tarps up, and took off. So once I got strapped and dropped the tarps I discovered the front one was over six inches too short on each side. I ended up carrying another lumber tarp up a ladder (something I swore I'd never do) because nobody else was there. Oh well, these loads don't happen that often and when they do it just wakes you up and helps you remember why you are a flatbedder. If I didn't want a challenge I'd just pull a box.