RGN Trailers: To Tarp or Not to Tarp?

They're a royal pain, but sometimes ya need them.

 

I carry 2 14 foot drops with 12 foot flaps, and 2 8 foot drop center tarps.

 

I use what I got. I mean I've been heavily thinking about getting a more custom tarp set but.
I just got 4 8-ft drops with flap about 24 ft long. Maybe.

It ain't fun but with those four tarps I can cover just about anything. Believe me I found out the hard way.

Also I have like a little smoke tarp too for the piddly little crates and whatnot that usually go with a bigger machine. Or a parts box or whatever.

 

28x28 with flap and never enough D rings cover most everything I haul. 18x20 and a smoke tarp cover the little stuff.

 

Tarping a double drop? Ridiculous! Preposterous! Unheard of! That was tarpped at one point

 

If you’re going to have tarps made up for yourself consider having webbing and d-rings put on the tarp both ways. I did for b-train sets. Only had 26’-32’ decks to cover so I got away with 18’ tarps. With 2 d-ring sets I could turn them sideways and fold the flap under. Ended up with a square end tarp 25’ long with 5’ drops and 3 rows of webbing a side. Was the difference between lumber tarps and steel tarps, and tarps for us. All those d-rings you could keep them tight on some pretty weird shapes too. Can never have too many d-rings.

 

I’ve been told nylon d-rings are the way to go.

 

Oh the extra D-rings were definitely the direction I was gonna go. And having them go in each direction was definitely going to happen makes a lot easier to clean up the front and back and a number of other things.

Fortunately I'll get reimbursed for it. It's just I was on the fence about doing it. But we do get enough tarp loads. So I'm leaning towards specing them out.

 

On the double drops without a doubt the best paying stuff I’ve had on them didn’t get on there by itself, and I had to cover it to the extreme. It’s worth the investment in a set of tarps a few different ways. It is enough of an investment to put some thought into if you’re going to have them made. In my world crated equipment and machinery pays at least $2/mi more than anything you could drive on there generally does. They’ll pay for themselves and then some. The more you think them through before you order them the more flexibility and ease of use you’ll get in the end. The biggest thing is more d-rings. And then some more just for good measure. Mine looked like a quilt when I was done. You could keep them tight on anything though. Went a long way toward keeping them in one piece. I only ever had a few small punctures in those repaired. Never tore one and they were over some stuff looked like steel porcupines.

 

I don’t carry tarps, but customer does