Tarping with rope

Most of the time I use a double half hitch to tie off. If they will allow shock cord that would eliminate the need for the trucker’s hitch. Double half hitch, weave it through the D rings. Pulling it tight as you go. Get to the end, another double half. Badda bing, badda boom. Does a better job than bungees and no hooks potentially popping you in the face. 3/8 shock cord works best.

 

Once solid natural rubber rope became impossible to get I started using regular rope. I am terrible at knots so I’d make a bowline knot and hook a bungee to it.

 

3/8 bungee rope is the best way to tarp if your trailer has hooks. Of course I work with a bunch of knuckle draggers that just break them off. I carry a coffee can full of old bungee hooks. The only knot I use is a half hitch.

 

The worst part about bungee rope is how long it takes to shrink back up once you stretch it in cold weather. With the old natural rubber rope you could roll it up and after it laid in front of the passenger seat it was good to go by the time we got to our reload.

 

Used rope for tarps for years. It really is not as difficult as it may sound.
it will take a few tries and a little time, but it will come to you after a couple of tries.

the primary things are whats known as clove, half hitches and slip knots. The clove and half hitches are used at the anchor points, the start and ending of the securement. This is the first part.
What is often called a truckers knot or hitch is the second part. This is what you use to tension the rope.
It is basically is made by tying a slip knot that creates a loop in the rope, before an anchor point.
The advantage of the “truckers knot” is two things, one is that you can get good tension on the rope, the second is that you can put it in multiple places on a single rope. Often putting 3 or 4 in line on a side.

When using rope to secure the tarp, make sure to work the sides evenly. You can easily pull the tarp over or off the load, when tensioning.

I carry 4 100 foot sections, 4 50 sections and 2 25 foot sections.
Something like this, or a 1/2 version is what was typically used.
https://www.harborfreight.com/38-in-x-100-ft-diamond-braid-rope-61678.html

 

Natural rubber - better for cold climates, better workability in lower temps (ie it shrinks faster)

Epdm - better for warm climates, better uv resistance, but needs to be 50+ to shrink to size within 30 min

Looks like rubber rope is cheaper and easier to find from a quick 5 min search

 

When I hauled glass for a living, we only used rope. It was a poly/cotton blend. I could secure an A-frame glass trailer tarp in about 15-20 minutes. One thing about rope that is different than a bungee, rope only stretches so far, and thats it. A bungee will stretch until it breaks and pops you in the face or arm. And that stretch happens when rolling down the road. Your tarp will flap less on windy days with a good rope job. Bungees will let it flap a lot more. Look at the average COTC tarp job (Central Oregon). They use bungee rope and you rarely see their tarps move rolling down the road.

As far as the knots, if I could upload a video, I could demonstrate the glass knot we used at Moore. It's quick and simple and is secure enough I would trust my life with.

 

One thing to keep in mind with bungee rope. Maybe not a big deal with more experience with it.

I bought a big roll of the EPDM bugee, and did as mentioned above cut in different lengths. What I didn't realize was how much traction the rubber had on the D rings. Kinda made it a PITA.

Honestly I probably just didn't give it enough opportunity, but I wish I had gone with the cloth covered bungee rope.