One Size Fits All Tarps?

Hey GF of FB what type of hardware do you use to attach your skirts? I've been thinking of making some from an old tarp and imagined using bolts or clevis pins with washers through the grommets. Grommets would have to be installed perfect so they would line up.

 

Is it busy in TX for the SD these days? I see a few loads on the boards to TX from CA, was thinking about grabbing one of them but was concerned about getting a decent load back?

 

We run neoprene tarps but we also don't run over a 2' drop on most plate loads. I have yet to run a coil, but from what I am told they are skidded and wrapped already for us from the place we haul.

I don't see why using just lumber tarps would not work. Just going to have a lot of extra tarp to tuck away when you are running a short stack is all. Plus they are very cumbersome, but it's what the job calls for!

 

If you're buying new tarps, the best way to go is a set of 6 and a half foot drops with 2 and a half foot snap on skirts. Guthrie Sales in Oregon (exit209) makes them for around $2000. You pay more, but they are lightweight and 99% of flatbed freight can be covered with the 6 and a half foot drops. On the rare occasion you need to cover a high load of lumber, you will be able to. For that price by the way, he'll put your name on, run however many rows of D rings and at whatever spacing you want. Guthriesales.com I think. Owners name is Ron and he had everything a flatbedder needs! I know a fella that has a set of these that are 25 years old now.....with care, these tarps are designed to last a very long time. Better than buying $800 tarps every three or four years in my opinion.

 

All we use is 2 8' drop lumber tarps. The new ones are heavy but do-able. I have one I have one that I got from another driver on a repower and its so #### heavy I can barely lift it. I have to ask for help to get it on the deck and sometimes with two guys a little bit of struggle still happens. I'm trying to get back by the yard to trade it out because it will work you to death.

I'm trying to find out what tarp manufacture Maverick uses. They have some really nice light weight tarps. My tarps even when the weather is warm is still almost like folding and rolling cardboard. In the cold its #### near impossible without working the hell out of yourself more than one should really have to.

 

http://www.derochecanvas.com/

This is the company that we get our tarps from. We have 24' by 26' lumber tarps the drops our made out of parachute materiel an are so light that two people could play catch with them lol

 

I have 6' drop steel tarps and I hate them. Maybe it's just the lack of extra rows of d-rings, but I almost always end up with nearly a foot of tarp wad around the bottom because there's just no way to tie them down tight. Not to mention the lack of flaps makes it ridiculously hard to get the front tied down right. And no matter if the load calls for 4 or 6 foot drops, every load I get is around 4 feet high or less. I'd rather carry some cheap plastic walmart tarps to cover the gap underneath a four foot drop then be stuck with 6 footers. And yes, that will work. As long as it's covered by something, they'll let you go.

Oh, and get the three piece sets. Two piece tarps are just punishing yourself with extra weight for no reason.

 

I used to carry 8's....They're sitting in the garage.....
I carry a set of 6's, 4's, and a smoke tarp.....

Anything that requires an 8' drop mainly studs, isn't worth my time to tarp let alone, haul anymore.....

Most of the loads you'd use lumber tarps are the $1/m NAFTA loads...Why bother?

 

I carry a set of 4' drop steel tarps and a fitted nose tarp, either 4x8 or 8x4, but tarps do not come out of the box unless get paid well. Last tarp job was $250. No tarp pay= no tarp!!!

 

Tarp pay is like FSC....It's all BS.....

You work with the total rate.....And what you need to make.....Screw the auxiliary charges and work with your total numbers.....

I don't haul lumber unless they're manufactured beams or large beams....Or large boards....
Anything less than 3" X 12" pays for sheyat and, to add insult to injury.....They have to be tarped....No thanks......

Anything like that is for the NAFTA drivers...Let them have those loads....