Your tips and tricks for flatbedding

i do my tarps at the same time i do my straps.

my back hates the whole tarp session in one whack. and in teh summer heat. my whole body gets exhausted. pack 2 gallons of water and i leave the truck and a/c running.

i chained down a load once in the texas heat. it was everything i could do to crawl in the truck and back to the sleeper. out of breath. out of energy. i was ready for the clouds in the sky. till i cooled down.

and no i'm not a BIG boy.

 

Best tip i can think of as far as tarping and straping is do it right the first time so you dont have to stop a mile down the interstate and fix loose corners, and watch out for those sharp edges on coils. the first coil i hauled was three coils banded together. hit the highway and the wind blew under the tarp and made it catch the edge. the whole back half of the tarp flew off the back of the trailer. every time i got that load after that i would put rubber pads on top of the coils. take your time and make sure you get the tarp on there tight.

 

may sound like a cliche', but get yourself organized. Don't get anything out till you need it, and then use it. If it's windy, do 2 or 3 straps before you get anymore out. Don't pull all your corner protectors out till your ready, then get the right amount out. It's a hassle to clean up an area when you don't need to. And this is where you will lose stuff. Sure, the first time on a load is always slow, but the process is usually the same. So don't get in a hurry and follow a progression that you would with most loads. And like Cowboy just said, "Get it right the first time!"

 

With my tarps that have a tail/nose flap, I'll roll the main section of the tarp up until the flap, then roll the flap back towards the main roll. This way, when I have to roll it out, I just drop it at the front or back of the load right on the edge, kick the flap down, and the rest of it to the center of the load.

I don't use my ratchet binders often, so when I do, I make sure to spray down the threads and ball bearing with PB blaster as I pull them out. Its better to make sure they're all ready to work than to crawl under a vehicle, start ratcheting, and have the hooks start binding up, crawling out, finding that can, crawling back under, spraying it down, breaking the threads loose, and starting again. I can usually do this while the shipper is loading up the trailer, so it really doesn't cost anything time wise to do it beforehand, and it gives the penetrant some time to penetrate and save you some headaches.


If you make your vee boards out of 2X4's, they can double as dunnage for many loads, whether you lay the two boards next to each other, or folded over on one another. This has helped me cut down on my dunnage weight by being able to toss out a dozen 4X4's. The corner boards work best flat against the trailer, so I'll lay them down first, and save proper 4X4's for second and third level dunnage. This has worked for loads ranging from railroad spikes to lumber. This is especially useful for loads built on 2X4's that sag in the middle. Slip them under a few feet out from the forks, and loading/unloading will go a lot more smoothly.