Kevlar Tarps Fact or Fiction ??

Best I have found was Codura from PeaksTarps.com. Have heard mixed reviews on them. Some love others not. Going to be odering a set in the next month and selling mine to new driver. I don't do a lot of tarped loads so for the weight and easy rolling if I can get a couple years I will be happy.

 

Hmmm- I say urban legend- Kevlar's expensive stuff.

 

What do you guy's typically use when a load calls for "water proof" tarps. I know some guys try to use the temp ones and get turned away at loading. So I was just curious what you use and what you're looking at cost wise.

 

I have not heard of them. Kevlar is VERY expensive and also it is ONLY bullet proof, you can still rip it with a knife or sharp edge, hence why most vests also have trauma plates and body armor in them (I have 2 in the closet) So unless you are in iraq getting shot at then i don't see the point in a Kevlar tarp

 

If a load is calling for "water-proof" traps it usually means the shipper wants a real tarp, quality made, not the Wal-Mart blue/grey tarps that cost $15. At least that has been my experience when i ran flats, as most guys don't carry tarps for some odd reason?? The shippers i ran into asking for them told me that many guys show up with brand new wal-mart/hardware store tarps and they don't last very long at road speeds. I had 2 20'x10' tarps made at tarpstop here in Gary, IN and they served me well.

 

I currently have 18oz vinyl tarps. They are the most durable but are heavy. I take very few loads that require tarps as they don't pay enough extra for the work. And it seems when I do take one and look at the weather that "light breeze" is a 30 mile/hour sustained wind. Looked at Codura when starting but went with what I have as not a lot of people had used the codura and didn't want to make a $1000+ mistake.

But saw a guy about a month ago that had them and offered to help fold as it was a windy day. He just did a quick and crappy job, wrapped a cord around them and almost tossed them with one hand onto the deck. Said when the wind was down he would re-roll them.

His where a year old and he tarps 75% of his loads and looked to be in good shape from what I could see. Besides the weight, he said the biggest bonus was he would take the premium paying loads out of MN and WI in the winter and never had an issue with them being so stiff he could roll them up.

I have used the crappy blue Walmart tarps as a smoke tarp but not being boxed is a pain. Will be getting a smoke tarp when I get my new drivers supplies later this month. They are cheap and MUCH easier than the blue ones.

One guy told me he makes sure that he buys the cheap tarps in black so that customers don't notice what he is using. He had a side box full of them. Talk about a claim waiting to happen.

You can get Kevlar tarps with coating on them but few tarp shops work with it and because of the price the few that do them are buying scraps. But I agree with Gman, biggest issue is ripping and see it as a bigger issue with Kevlar than even light weight tarps.

 

I haul high dollar machinery. Some people look at my stack of tarps and freak. I have a lot of tarps. But I don't only carry tarps. I carry lots of padding more padding than tarps. When you see a guy dragging a load down the road thats tarped but the tarps are full of rips. They haven't padded the sharp points or put enough padding.

If you seriously need a piece of mind when hauling something and don't trust your tarps. Pad the load and put a walmart tarp over it, than your tarp if your that concerned about getting a load wet. It don't take long to spread a walmart tarp. And piece of mind is better than a claim.

Cost wise for all my tarps and rolls of padding I probably have in excess of $4000.00. I don't expect that you will have to spend that much. Unless you start hauling machine tools. But I tarp everything I haul. And I carry enough tarps to tarp 3 trailers worth of freight and my tarps all vary in size. For instance my smallest tarp is 16' wide and 24' long my biggest tarp is 38' wide and 22' long with a 12x12 flap on each end. Most of my tarps are 6 years old.

And an old machinery haulers tip for you. If you don't have padding but have a lot of sharp points on a load. Baby diapers work wonders to pad those sharp corners..

 

I also hauled a lot of tool machinery back in the day and yes padding makes the difference, but, baby diapers are expensive and bulky. I used to use cut up tractor inner tubes and felt blankets, the inner tubes do the job that the diapers would do and the felt does a great job of of overall protection.

 

Carpet scraps work well for padding too, and very cheap, if not free.