Flatbed Securement Discussion 2022

This is very interesting thread going. How are things going for you all together Chief Brody? Plan on doing flatbed with Prime for awhile still?

Things are going fine and I'm planning on staying where I am for the time being. I have done a little bit of research into some of my options but I'm in no big hurry to make a move.

Twosides,

Hope things are going well.

I was at Sapa, Cressona Friday and was having fits tucking the plastic under the load, but then I remembered my hammer tacker:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-HT50-Professional-Hammer-Tacker-HT50P/100340916

I bought it to tack my plastic corner protectors to OSD loads, but it also works great to tack plastic to the wood dunnage surrounding the bundles of a Sapa load.

Hey Chief, Yes I'm doing ok. Man, I just missed you. I was planning on being at Cressona Friday but got held up at Century Aluminum in SC Wednesday night into Thursday morning. I arrived at Cressona on Saturday.

Yea that plastic is annoying. I usually just tuck it in the tarp. That hammer tracker looks useful but I think my first purchase should and will be the pocket winches. I'm getting annoyed from the rusted winches on the Knight trailers and they are in the wrong spots for me. Some of the winches in the rear won't slide to a spot I want them because a bolt is stopping them from sliding over. Also the back wheel is in the way.

This is a picture of the load I had in SC going to Cressona. The pic was when I arrived at Cressona.

The weight was a little over 45k. I wanted 10 straps on this but there were 2 winches at the rear of the trailer that served no purpose. One of them was blocked by a bolt and the other couldn't go past the tire. I would have felt better if I had 2 straps on the front of this load but I got it to Cressona with no problems

TT flatbedders, please feel free to give your opinions on how you would have secured this load. I'm still second guessing myself and I spent more time than I wanted trying to figure out where I wanted the straps to go. Everything went well but the more info I have, the better my judgment will become on future loads. Thanks.

And just an add on to Chief, the week that past was the best week I had so far. I was able to fit 3 runs in and was significantly faster with securing and tarping the loads..

This is a picture of the load I had in SC going to Cressona. The pic was when I arrived at Cressona.

The weight was a little over 45k. I wanted 10 straps on this but there were 2 winches at the rear of the trailer that served no purpose. One of them was blocked by a bolt and the other couldn't go past the tire. I would have felt better if I had 2 straps on the front of this load but I got it to Cressona with no problems

TT flatbedders, please feel free to give your opinions on how you would have secured this load. I'm still second guessing myself and I spent more time than I wanted trying to figure out where I wanted the straps to go. Everything went well but the more info I have, the better my judgment will become on future loads. Thanks.

And just an add on to Chief, the week that past was the best week I had so far. I was able to fit 3 runs in and was significantly faster with securing and tarping the loads..

That load looks pretty good. The only difference is I would put more straps up front because I like the extra straps at the front for the purposes of stopping forward momentum.

Glad you had a good week.

Keep up the good work and keep your chin up.

I was at Sapa, Cressona Friday and was having fits tucking the plastic under the load, but then I remembered my hammer tacker:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-HT50-Professional-Hammer-Tacker-HT50P/100340916

I bought it to tack my plastic corner protectors to OSD loads, but it also works great to tack plastic to the wood dunnage surrounding the bundles of a Sapa load.

Nice, always carried one too. The other odd tool I had was a small handsaw, for cutting back dunnage if it overhung the rub rails.

Twosides, and others that are following this thread, I took a couple of pictures regarding securement challenges involving the variety of loads that I haul. Many loads, while are not necessarily difficult to secure, require a little bit of thought because its not just as simple as throwing straps over the load.

For example, the Caterpillar drivetrain parts that I hauled.

You really can’t throw straps over these upright pieces. Rather, I had to apply the general securement principles of “opposing securement.” As you can see, I have one strap wrapped around the base at the front pulling to the back and then a corresponding strap wrapped around the base at the back pulling to the front. Both straps also provide forces pulling down and to the side. Like I said, not really difficult, but it just takes a few minutes to figure out how to secure the load.

The other unit was some sort of lower drive train unit. As is often the case, Caterpillar loads get covered in opaque plastic, so you can’t see what’s underneath. As a general rule, everything underneath the plastic is strong enough to withstand as much pressure as you can put on a strap. So damaging the unit is not as much a concern. However, I didn’t realize that there was a space beneath where I placed my strap. As you can see, I broke through the plastic when I tightened my strap. This was a no tarp load, but because that part was exposed, I ended up covering the front part with my smoke tarp.

The load below was LP siding. Square, low, and had edge protection all around the load. Nice and easy securement.

My securement technique with my steel tarps has evolved over time. I was never really taught any good techniques using my steel tarps. The problem that I had early on and have since cured is having excess tarp that will flap in the wind. I will try to do my best to explain the steps.

1. Roll the tarp out so that bottom edge of the tarp covers the load and just touches the deck.

2. Attach bungees to the grommets closet to the rub rail at the bottom front corners of the load. Once you have both bungees in place, really pull them tight. See the last picture.

3. The problem after the first two steps involves the excess on the side that you don’t want to flap.

4. I fold the excess IN against the load so that the “corner” of the fold runs right along the front outside edge of the load. Kinda like wrapping a present. But the problem is getting it to stay there.

5. I take bungee and hook it at the TOP of the fold, on a “D” ring, then straight down to the rub rail. Don’t pull it real tight yet because you don’t have the triangle flap folded yet, which is the next step.

6. Once you have the bungee from the last step in place, then fold the triangle piece over against the outside of the load and secure it with a bungee. Then you can go back and really pull the bungee down that runs “down the fold” at the corner. If you look at the second picture, the bungee that runs “down the fold” I have pulled back to the “D” ring to the upper right in the picture, pulling against the triangle flap.

The good thing about this technique, starting with steps 1 and 2, is that it works for almost every load, especially coils using the “aero tarp” technique. But instead of securing the grommets against a flat, square edge, you pull the tarp away from the coil far enough to there you have about a 45 degree angle from the leading edge of the coil to the grommet. The difficult part then becomes securing the excess that won’t fold in as easily.

I even made a Rap song for this load.

I . . . .

Like big boards, and I cannot lie,

All my brothers cast a jealous eye,

I tarp my wood in just an hour,

And down the road I fly.

Thanks for posting this Chief. I'm running into some problems as I tarp with not being consistent. Some loads I tarp look ok and some have giant air bubbles in them.

I even made a Rap song for this load.

I . . . .

Like big boards, and I cannot lie,

All my brothers cast a jealous eye,

I tarp my wood in just an hour,

And down the road I fly.

I am cracking up Ok Sir tarps-alot. I see you lol.

If only I could tarp a load in an hour... I switched up techniques with this load I'm on now and ran into a little issue. I always "fold" the side up and in. But majority of the time the sides fall between the bungees, see the pics below...

It started out nice and neat. Took this to Three D metals in Birmingham from Cressona. But once I got into Virginia it all fell apart. Air pockets formed and very loose. Below is where I tried a new method, instead of folding the sides up I rolled them up.

So far so good on my journey to Cressona. Still nice and tight, not flapping in the wind and no air bubbles. A little surprised at how smooth the process was going until I came to the ends...This is the little issue I had lol

I had no clue what to do at this point lol. Did the best I could and just tucked them in. I have a lumber tarp on the front, put my rolled up tarp in front of it to help with the wind, and a steel tarp on the back. The lumber tarp irritated me. This load needs 2 steel tarps on it. Underneath are aluminum rods.

I do the same steps you listed when tarping a load. It always starts out fine but going down the road it gets loose, air pockets form and the sides slip between the bungees. Any thoughts on why it slips between the bungees or what I can do to fix that problem?

Also is it ok if the straps don't touch the load on the sides?

Hopefully you can see that the straps aren't even touching the pipes on the bottom row. I felt real uncomfortable with that. What made me feel even more uncomfortable was i couldn't put any belly straps on it. Talked to a Knight driver and a Melton driver before I left and they said it was fine. This was the load I took to Birmingham, obviously made it there with no problems but stressful the entire trip.. My question is, is that ok?

One more thing lol. This is the load I'm currently on that I tarped in the above post. 7 bundles of aluminum rods weighing 46,512 lbs.

I feel comfortable with how I strapped it. Just want to know the Vets opinion about it. Maybe I have too many straps in the middle? Should have done 3 over the top in the front and 3 belly straps total???