"plate steel, I use chains to "X" the front and the back" RTP, he's talking plate. BOL

At Maverick, when we haul plate steel,it is chains only.No straps at all.On coils,if they are loaded eye to the side chains only.If they are loaded shotgun,depending on the weight,4 chains crisscrossed and then straps across the top.You can never over secure a load. Just be sure it is secured properly to begin with.Always have respect for coils.

Very good advice there. Living in an area that has a major coil plant(USX Irvin Works) I have seen my drivers that have no respect for the coil. Thus causeing some major damage and headaches.
This guy hit the breaks to hard on a inproperly secured load:

So did this guy:

Same guy but with company name: TEAM TRANSPORT(now part of PI&I). They were never good at load securment.

Both accidents happened at the same spot. Coming down a hill and about 1/2 down there is a stop light.
Here is link to the page that the pics came from. Scoll down the page to see the rest.
http://www.brentwoodvfc.com/actionshots.html

Drill pipe definitely does not need to be tarped. Most steel does though. It's really up to the receiver. In the winter, tarping will be more frequent because of the road salt. Typically, just use your best judgement or call the receiver (the actual receiver, not the secretary) and make sure. I used to haul T-posts pretty often where the Qualcomm would say "TARP". The first load I went ahead and tarped it. Tore my tarps to shreds. I got to the customer and he was shocked. Never tarped another T-post load. Still got paid for it though. :wink:

As for securement: well, that's another story. Steel requires a great deal of respect. But then again, most loads require respect. Be safe.

one reason i prefer suicide loading is to move you have to brake a chain shotgun sometimes side on their own :shock:

ya i meant with plate steel xing it seeing those pics of those coils being dropped thats just being stupid. like i tell everyone if it looks good enough throw one or two extra chains better to overkill than not enough and especially with coils.
a month or two ago i saw a truck with a coil on the deck going from i69 onto westbound 80/90 in indiana that was layed over and it appeared the coil was still on the trailer