To Flap or Not To Flap. That Is The Question!

I carry two 4' steel tarps.
Two 8' lumber tarps W flaps.
And a 6' lumber tarp W flap.
Since I got the 6' it seems like I end up using it every time and wish I had 2.
I've got all mine off Craigslist at various times so they are what they are.
But if I was to ever to order one it would have a ton of extra D rings. You can never have enough. Especially on lumber tarps on the opposite end of the flap.
I'd put at least 4 or more rows of D rings on the tail like a steel tarp has. Just for them short pieces that take less than one tarp to cover. Then you've got something to anchor the tail without looking like a blind guy did it.

 

Same,.. two 26' lumber and two 26' steel tarps. Each with flaps.

For me the the flaps can make the difference between needing 2 tarps or 3 when needing to cover the whole trailer.

Hurst

 

Depends on the type of loads your covering I guess.

More folding/time with out a flap vs with. Plus as I mentioned previously,.. the difference between needing 2 tarps or 3 tarps to cover a load.

There are advantages to both. Coils do not need a flap. Covering odd shaped loads do not usually need a flap.

Hurst

 

Two 26' lumber tarps with flaps are going to cover almost anything you can fit on a 53' deck. It's a whole ton extra work to tarp something small, but I've always lived by the adage in this industry of "better to have and not need than need and not have".

If the lumber tarps are all you can get (and you can't carry a large variety of sizes and types) then that one time you get the big load of 10' high material as a back haul home, you'll be able to take it.

 

I carry two 16 x 24 steel tarps without flaps and two 6' drop lumber tarps with flaps. Plus a 10 x 12 smoke tarp. I rarely have needed a steel tarps with a flap, and if I do on the from, the smoke tarp works well.

 

All I do is steel, so I carry (2) 24x16 steel tarps with flaps. They work wonders when you have various lengths of steel tubing and pipe on your load.

 

A smoke/hood tarp does help a lot with using 16x24 tarps. They are often just a couple feet too short.

 

My next set of 4' tarps will probably be 2 30'x16' with a flap and 3 rows of D-rings on the back. Should be able to cover 80% of my 4' tall loads with one tarp, and the rest can get covered with a 16'x16' machine tarp most of the time. I really like having more than one set of tarps to always have a dry/spare tarp ready to go.

The flap is a huge plus on regular shaped loads liked palletized bags, superbags, sheet steel, hardwood, etc. I'm even going to get one added to my 20' tarp to make tarping a single coil easier since my chain tie downs are too far out for a good coil bag job.