New to flatbed. Tarps

You can buy them if you are hauling a lot of coils a bag will save you enough time at loading to make them worth buying and turning in tic. for repayment from co. If your CO. makes driver pay part of wet steel claims A tarp repair kit should be in the tool box. Some steel shipping departments make the driver pass a test before you can load coils (U S STEEL) fail an you cant try again till next day

 

If you are only hauling steel, a couple of steel tarps with 4' drops would probably do well for you. If you plan on hauling other types of freight, then I would get a 3 tarp set. You could get one lumber tarp with 8' drops and a couple of steel tarps. With those, you could haul most anything and cover it on a 48' trailer.

 

If you know you are gonna haul coils a lot...it makes sense to get the coil tarps....but if you aren't hauling coils atleast 50% of the time, I wouldn't want to carry so many tarps. Two 35 foot steel tarps covers anything you can put on that trailer under 6 feet tall. Bungie's are a mans best friend.

Drove for a company that supplied three 25 foot tarps, and I wanted to kill myself. No reason for it. I don't mind lifting the extra weight of a couple 35's.

 

As far as clothing, most facilities will require long sleeves, pants, safety shoes, safety glasses, a decent pair of gloves and a hard hat.

 

Tarping is something you get better at the more you do it.

 

when I tarp, The material Underneath the Tarp gets more wet than the tarps themselves

 

I use two 16 x 24 steel tarps (four foot drops). I recommend tarps straps of both 21 inches and 31 inches as you will need both. I also recommend furniture blankets to toss over the steel coils to protect your tarps from the sharp edges of the coil. These can be picked up from Harbor Freight for about $5 each. I tried to use a coil bag a few times, but found it to be a pain in the rear and went back to the steel tarps. When you get started, don't hesitate to ask some experienced people to show you how to tarp. It will save you time and frustration. Most will be more than happy to show a new hand how to properly tarp.

 

I also carry old pieces of carpet for protecting my tarps, whether it's the nasty sharp steel coils edges or steel flat bar or rods, pipe - anything that's going to tear up the tarps. You can usually go to your local carpet dealer and ask them if they have any scrap pieces that they won't be selling anyway. One time on the road, I needed some for a big machinery load and saw a carpet dealer on my way there. I asked inside and they let me go dumpster diving. I picked out some good remnants and went on my way. One man's junk is another man's treasure - it's all free. I also get large pieces now from a local dealer and boy, has it helped me for some nasty machinery loads I've had. It's also nice to have pieces about 6-8' x 14-16'L. That will cover the front (and rear, if you have 2 pcs.) of a nasty pipe, steel bar or rod load load.

 

31" bungees are great. Pull them through the D ring and hook them up to the rub rail in a triangle shape, keeping the hooks away from the tarps to prevent digging holes with these crazy winds.