Rope vs rubber tarp straps? Any tips and tricks?

If there are rope hooks on the trailer then rope is the way to go IMO.

 

Barring any necessary padding that might be needed, tarping a regular load shouldn't take more than .5 - .75 hours in total. Honestly once you get the hang of things a half hour tarp job should really be considered too much time for something with one tarp.

Individual ropes tied off to the rub rail is too much work. At the very least it would be nice to be able to loop under the rub rail and back up to another d ring and tie off there. It's easier to tie off that way. A few long ropes that just go up and down are easier, but it takes a lot more time if you don't have rope hooks since it needs to be rethreaded every time.

 

With everything, you'll get faster in time. My tarp jobs take way less than half the time they did when I first started, and are neater and hold up to the wind way better. It's something you'll learn, so I'm not trying to dump on you for taking too long or anything.

But yeah, having a system that goes faster helps, and having the right equipment helps.

One option if you don't have tarp hooks is to use a bunch of S hooks like you find on bungees and hook them under the rub rail and hook the rope through the other end, this would make using a single long rope a lot faster. If you tarp at a place where lots of other people tarp and the place doesn't clean up well it won't take you long to get a good number of S hooks by picking up the broken bungees and cutting the hooks out.

 

No.
That is the worst knot there is.

 

I/We should just trust that with no explanation whatsoever? It must be good!

 

Pls do not use hooks on the ropes.
It will make you very slow.

 

I'd love an explanation on that.