Tank or not, that is the question....

I'm a Gas Hauler and would not pull any other type. Like you, I pulled just about all there is. My advice is be patient and get the best job for you. What you face are other drivers that may have experience in hauling that specific type of product more than you but with less time driving. With tanks I believe the companies look at the product more than the truck if you're going to be local and haul hazmat. As you know OTR drivers are based on getting the load there safely and quickly. That too with hazmat but you need to know the product too. So your advantage is time you have OTR and a clean record. So you might be beat out by a driver with less time but more knowledge about what's being hauled.

You might want to take your time and see what's available before you make any move. I'd check every aspect of tank hauling (and there's a lot) before I jumped. Good luck and just my 2¢

 

my opinion, i pulled a tank for a year. it's easy to like if you're doing air unloads with 1 or 2 hoses. its a terrible job once you start dealing with the chemical suit(especially in the summer), 100+ feet of hose and multi compartmented trailers that need to be pumped off.

 

100+ feet of hose? Dang, where was that? I have 5 years of pulling tanks and have never used more than 40 feet.

 

I wish I'd have got in to tanks back in 83', I probably would have not quit driving in 95' only to come back in 2011.
Most of what we do are no touch loads and what we do touch are mostly air offs.
But we still have some pump off loads, Twice in the last couple of months I've had to use 100'+ of hose and 1 of those was a 4 compartment tank.
I don't mind working a load, It keeps me busy, Rather be working than sitting.
Nothing hard about tankers, Just running local around Chicagoland has some really tight places to get in and out of, But I love it

 

I never had a hose whipping me going down the street but heard of a few.

 

The chemical suits aren't bad if you have a employee who issues you a red acid suit. Whatever the ambient temp is on the outside, that's what the suit is on the inside. They are worthless in the winter off course. The green pvc suits are basically thosesilver sauna suits that eople use for weight loss, except they are heavier. No air goes through them. They are great for keeping you warmer during the winter, but will just about kill you during the summer. They cost, I think around 75, the redsuits, over 800.

 

You can get the yellow and green ones for $30-50, depending on where they are ordered from and how big of a bulk order. Our red ones we have only cost $375. Everybody says they cost over $800, buy I seen the invoice. I do not know if we have a hook up on them or what, but I don't care how much they cost, the red ones are AWESOME!!

 

The suits vary. My local industrial supply has a full 2 piece for $650 in store, but if you buy online, it's more. Which is weird, usually it's the opposite. Our suits cost almost a grand for regular sizes and over a grand for xl and up. I don't know who the distributor is, but I told our safety director that we were getting hosed bad.
But some people think that paying more for something somehow makes it better that the same product for less somewhere else.

Lol go figure

 

most of the oil refineries always required lots of hose, or nalco loads. and yes, if we were issued those red suits, the chemical suit wouldn't even be a big deal to wear, but we had those nasty green pvc suits and they were way too hot to wear comfortably and focus on the task.

 

Yeah, I think the green ones are actually a safety hazard. You cannot concentrate on anything wearing them cause you feel like you're about to pass out any second.