Hell yeah root, I think you sold me.

 

Life is too short to not enjoy what you do for a living.

 

Finally someone see's my pain. :?
I've wanted to be a Porn Star my whole life.

 

Some of the pro,s would be considered cons by some drivers and vice versa.
Personally, I think the best things about flat beds are you,ll learn how to rope n sheet properly, you become far more safety conscious, you,ll get loads of physical exercise, and when you,re empty... you can get away with a lot of things you would,nt otherwise.
Bad points, roping n sheeting in gale force winds outside(mission impossible at times, but you just have to get on with it).
Bout the only bad point there is!
Flat bed work is varied, interesting and demanding. It may or may not be your cup of tea,but, you,ll never know unless you try it.
Have fun :wink:

P.S I take it you know how to do a driver,s knot?

 

I'm curious about the "gale force winds" comments.

Seems to me that if a load needs to be covered for protection, then the shipper wouldn't want it exposed to "gale force winds" . . . or rain or snow or other stuff coming from the sky.

How often do you runn into scenarios where you're battling strong wind and rain?

 

Doesn't happen alot but it happens. I've picked up steel sheets, coils, bars etc that are stored outside in the yard but the load requires tarping. I think sometimes tarping is requested by (or sold to) a customer when they have no clue the product is kept outside. Or they may want to protect the product from transportation hazards like salt, flying debris, etc. When the load is tarped it makes it look like to the customer that someone cares :roll: . Just like in any job, sometimes you just do what you're told and don't ask why. :lol:

 

[quote="Snowman7"]Could,nt have put it better myself :wink:

 

I've already seen the exact thing youre talking about. We picked up a coil that was outside in a mud hole and it required tarping. All of the coils were in the mud. We tarped it and laughed about why in the he!! were we tarping this. Then we get to our destination. They take the coil off of the trailer and drop it where? In this nasty muddy muck in a corner of their building. We asked the receiver why was it to be tarped, they said they didnt know, but he said it looked better tarped though. It was a sight.

 

lot of times you will tarp lumber,shingles,sod, or bricks for the sole reason of load securement, keeps lumber from walking out the ends, and the others from falling out the sides. have tarped particle board in the rain which was sitting in the rain only to untarp in the rain and have the load left outside?????? ours is not to wonder why ours is but to do or die!!!! :lol:

 

almost forgot, gale force wind or anything over 12 mph for that matter BE VERY CAREFUL i know 2 people that have been blown off a truck. use the wind to your advantage never get downwind of the tarp because it will wrap around you or over you and take you with it believe me. I lived on the northsea in germany for over 10years working shipyards and actually the wind can be used to your advantage if you think about it. what i do is put the rear of the truck to the windward side when tarping because you start with your back tarp, now the trick is not to expose to much tarp to the wind(just unroll enough to reach the bed) until you have secured the back corners.
Now you might have to climb up and down to do this but it is far better than trying to unfold the tarp without securing the corners first now when you unroll the tarp the wind will actually help you spread the tarp to the front of the truck. Same procedure with front tarp start at the rear and work forward.
Now i have even been know to move my truck to let the wind work to my advantage provided there was space.
If there is no room to move just do your best to get the windward side secure first and remember DOWNWIND IS DANGEROUS keep yourself between the wind and tarp so that it will not take you with it.
If you have to poly(plastic sheet) the load before you tarp this can make things even more fun because not only is this stuff light it is slick as can be, especially if its raining, most places will make or let you poly before sending you outside. Have been in places where the wind inside was almost as bad as outside, wind whipping thru open bay doors. You can use your tarps to hold the poly down until you tie off the corners.

When untarping try to always pull your tarps to the side of the truck that will offer you some shelter from the wind, this will help you when you fold them.

Hope some of these basics help, there are lots of other little tricks and have the fun is successfully figuring them out, remember be careful.

If you have anyguestions feel free to ask.