How many of you have been running without a tarp?

I do !

 

I carry them but dont use them much. Current load is first tarp job in 2 months. I tried leaving them home for awhile but as soon as i didnt have them, every load i could find that paid anything required them so i put them back on the truck.

I switched from progressive insurance to great west because progressive doesnt cover leaks.

 

This ain't the best market to limit yourself by not having tarps. The fewer limits, the more options you give yourself to make $$$

 

I pulled flatbed for 4yrs and never had a single load get wet or ever had a single claim. Why do you feel you need insurance? If you have the correct tarps, undertarps, and stay up on repairs, you shouldn’t have any issues. IIRC, all mine were Zamzow, out of STL. Great quality tarps.

 

Mainly, there are lumber and steel tarps. You wouldn’t buy lumber tarps to tarp steel or for general usage and vice versa. Lumber tarps are for lumber only. Yes, I know people use them for other stuff, but, it’s not worth fighting them and ending up with a compromised tarp job. Mostly, it’s big flatbed companies skimping on the equipment their drivers are given.

The tarps you linked are missing the wrapover flaps on both ends. Look at the screenshots below and you’ll see the Zamzow set have a sewn seam inset 12” on the flap end. That gives an overlap of 12” on each of the wrapover flaps. This is crucial to keeping stuff dry. No way would I buy the linked set. Further, you’d want a 2-piece set of lumber tarps, so you only have one overlap. When you overlap, you want to very tightly bungee your rear tarp to your securement straps. This way your rear tarp can never walk back, going down the road.

My lumber tarps were 8’ drops on a skateboard. I’ve seen guys try and tarp a step deck with 8’ drops, but, the drop was always a compromised area. I think I’d try and steel tarp the upper deck like a present and lumber tarp the lower. It’d be really tough to do, though.

My three steel tarps were 16’W by 20’L. This gave me 4’ of drop all the way around with 2’ overlap, on a 48’. I used these on everything that wasn’t building materials.

For undertarps, I used sections of surplus military tents. That canvas is coated in waterproofing, absorbs oil off steel over time, making it even better, doesn’t sweat like plastic, fairly light, easy to handle, and is tough stuff. It’s the only way to go, when hauling steel. If you hauled a lot of machinery, then, moving blankets over the canvas would be a great option. The machines I’ve hauled had tons of sharp corners and I never felt like my tarps were fully protected from punctures.

I carried a minimum of 200 bungees, at all times. Half of them I’d have bundled in handfuls, then, use a single bungee tied around each bundle and hung them from the tractor’s frame rails. I had bungees hung everywhere. The other half would be new cases kept under my bunk. I always had plenty for any tarp job.

Linked tarp.


Zamzow tarp.

 

No. Never do that, as securement straps over the tarps really compromises the tarp where it’s pinched. I see people use edge protectors, but, that only pinches the tarp between two hard pieces, exacerbating the issue.

After you’ve strapped the load, you’ll lay out your rear tarp, getting it positioned. There are eyelets across the leading edge of the tarp. Hook into those with bungees, then, hook the other end onto a load securement strap, banding on the bundles, wherever you can hook onto. This will keep the rear tarp from walking back, catching air, and being ripped off the load.

As you should always do with every box of new bungees, crimp the hooks, so they don’t dig into anything. It’s so important to take the time and do this. It’ll really save your tarps from punctures from the bungee hooks.