Tarping before or after securing?

They are a compromise but I hope they work for you.

 

Well, I bought 2 lightweight 14oz lumber tarps 24X26 with 8ft flaps and 3 rows of D-rings. $510 bucks a piece but they're domestic and made right there on the other side of the plexiglass wall in the shop. So I guess I'm supposed to trust that more lol... ((AUSTIN TARP CHARLOTTE, NC))

The steel tarp had no grommets if turned the other way and they didn't have time to sew any today. And the 3 piece lumper set were sold out... So I guess what I got will be the best bet for now, then I'll buy a steel tarp or two later... It beat buying the 6ft drop drywalls and just cutting myself in half for options, couldn't use them for 8ft drops, and they would be big for 4ft or lower, plus the drywall 6 footers only had 2 rows of D-rings.... So, here I stand for now


thanks for everyone's help and advice and assistance and the time it took to write up y'all's responses. Off to go tarp my first load tomorrow. 6ft tall and about 47ft long ...

 

The horror begins! Good luck

 

(!!) thanks lol

 

Well. It wasn't too bad, took all 100 of my bungees. It's not the best looking job but not the worst. It was bad because I didn't know what end my flaps were on lol so I had to re roll it back up while up on the freight switch it back around because I had it backwards O WELL! Got it done, but I will be buying some smaller steel tarps for sure soon

thanks a lot y'all really helped

 

Im a company driver. All I'm supplied with is a 3 pc lumber tarp set. 6 ft drop and only 2 rows of d rings. When I haul steel (when I have to tarp)I secure as normal with straps, then tarp and strap again over the tarp. That way I dont need to tighten on the tarp too bad. If its low to the deck I dont fold the tarp out all the way either.

Some places I pick up dry wall and have to strap over the tarp completely. I haven't seen any damage to the tarps yet from doing this.

 

Good luck with that tarp.

 

For a better looking tarp job make sure you pull your tarps tight front to back.

 

A tip for you ive done to find/remember the flap end- is tie a big heavy ziptie or two to a grommet on the flap end, sort of like an i.d. tag that will be exposed when the tarp is folded up.
I do this to one of my steel tarps too because one is longer than the other.

 

100 is a good start, then another 50 any time you find yourself using all your bungees. I break/lose an average of 2 bungees every time I throw my tarps, so for me, that's another 50 bungees every 3-6 months.

I used to use almost exclusively 21" bungees with a few 31" mixed in for the nose and tail, but now I'm switching over to exclusively 31" bungees. What you'll want to use will depend entirely on your tarping style.