Your tips and tricks for flatbedding
I just started doing this about three years ago, and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks. I'll share what I've learned over the past few years:
1) Leave the winch bar until you're done with strapping. It's much better to just keep it in your hand rather than putting it down/picking it up every time you deal with a strap. Same thing but opposite when undoing the load, just walk around with the bar and undo every strap, but don't touch them. Put the bar down then deal with the straps.
2) Some recommended pipes for bungee storage. I found this flat out didn't work because the bungees would get stretched and wouldn't come back, especially in winter. I just use a bin like everyone else.
3) With tarping I've found a few things. I walk around the load a lot more than other guys do, but it seems to work for me. First I grab four bungees and pin each corner. If there's more than a foot hanging below the rub rail, I'll flip it up and do four more bungees just inside the corners to hold the flap up, that way you're not fighting with it every time you touch a bungee. Now I grab a bunch of bungees and all I do is hang them on the D-rings. After that is done I will go back the other way and feed them around. It works for me, the other way of making one pass doesn't. I find my tarps look much better doing it this way. I'm not wasting time during the trips fixing my mistakes.
4) Rolling up tarps. Boy I hate doing this by myself. Of course lay the tarp flat and let it dry out and warm up in the sun. I always pull my tarps off first, but roll them up last. When folding them leave about 6" in the middle. Don't go right to the middle. After folding and straightening them by tugging on the corners, fold them again and repeat. Then fold the one bundle over the other one, and then I step on the creases to even them out. I always make sure to have bungees under the end before rolling it up. It's important to get all the creases and folds out. I can get a four piece tarp system for a step deck in a 24x18x56 toolbox with ease now, before it was a battle.
5) I have some colored bungees so I use them to designate which tarps are what. Since I have a four piece system, I have 3 different sizes of tarps (two middle tarps are the same). No longer wasting time figuring out what is what.
6) Strap twists are your friend. Except in Ontario!
7) Belly wraps are your friend as well. But don't only use them. The thing with belly wraps is they never seem to tighten, of course depending on the load. Do you want all of your straps loose? If I have say 5 bundles of 45' steel I will do two belly wraps but won't count it against my strap requirement. They're only there to hold the load together IMO. The other straps are there to hold the load down.
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