I think we're talking about the same material. Peak Tarps calls it "KARDURA". They say this material is similar to what they use to make backpack bags.

You have the same trailer as I"m getting, so I really appreciate your comments as your setup might work great for me too. Could you tell me what length do you think is best for smaller tarps (what have you found from experience)?

8' drop: 24' x 26' to cover the entire trailer 48' long
6' drop: 20' x 20'?
4' drop: 16' x 20'? to cover the upper deck 11' long

Thanks!

 

When are you picking up your new sled?Did you get some load levelers aswell?
I think you will be very happy with your choice Wilson makes a great product and the people are very nice to deal with.I had some work done on my step @ there plant in Sioux City,Ia a couple of years ago after getting rearended in Ca they were very quick with the repairs and even knocked the price of the repair down.
But anyways on to the tarps,
The 4ft drop I have is infact a 16'x24' and it works great for the top deck.My 6' drop is 26' long I had 2 of these but one got destroyed word to the wise when toteing your tarps on the top deck make sure you have a 4x4 strapped to the deck in front of the tarps.One of my 6ft drops worked its way out from the strp holding down the tarps and it fell down between the 1/4 fenders and the drives @ 60mph put on a hell of a smoke show thankfully I was out on a 2 lane road in the desert with next to no traffic.

I think you would be fine with getting a 2 4ft drops (parachute type)then get 2 8ft drops with flaps inthe same material and you should be fine.I never ran into a situation where I needed a 10ft drop.
Start with that and if you find your self needing a biger tarp then buy one later.

 

In addition to the 3 pc 10' drops that I mentioned earlier, we also have a 2 pc 4' drop. I agree that you'd be OK 95% of the time with a 8' drop though.

 

Wilson starts building the trailer at Moberly, MO plant on Aug-10th. I can't wait It's going to be finished on 14th and I plan to pick it up shortly after that. I'll probably deliver a flatbed load from Canada to Chicago, IL and then pick up the new trailer and have them put it on top of the flatbed. I haven't bought the load levellers yet, but I found a local company that makes pretty decent ones and the price is pretty much the same as in the US. Re the tarps, you're probably right - I'll keep it simple and just get 2 four drop tarps and 2 eight foot drop tarps to start. All will be lightweight, probably from Peak Tarps...

 

Rank, our load manager and even dispatcher still haven't found time to tell me what tarps will work best. I'd hate to wrestle with 10 ft drop tarps so I'll probably just get a standard 'flatbed' setup: 2 lumber (8') and 2 steel (4') tarps, and will go from there. Especially as you say you don't really need 10' drop tarps most of the time ... Can always order more... Thanks for the input.

 

Tracer when I pulled a tandem flat/drop we had 2 "plywood tarps" 20'X24' with a 6'flap on one end they were nice because on a tandem most loads weren't that high to need a 8' drop and a lot of time loads of bar are around 20 to 24 feet long so you could use the flap to get a little extra length instead of dragging out the second tarp. The other thing to do is when you get "ground tarps " made up put grommets around the outside so you can fasten it to the load or use it as an actual tarp instead of your good ones.

 

when i pulled a tandem flatbed last summer i too often had such loads: for example, skids with bricks. they were 4' high and probably took 24' or 26' of space on the trailer only. the shipper started loading right after the last axle on the truck and the last skid was around the front axle on the trailer. i remember wishing i had one long 4' drop tarp, so that i wouldn't have to wrestle with two of them.

once i got a load of light steel coils. they loaded 5 of them on my trailer and the total weight was just under 45,000 lbs. i had to cover it with the standard 4' drop tarp (16' by 24') and it was too big for this particular load. i think having a short square "machinery" tarp in this situation would be helpful. 14' by 14' or 16' by 16'?

choices, choices ... as germans say, "wer hat die wahl, hat die qual"

 

I know of a couple of step deck owners who don't even carry tarps. That works fine as long as you can find a non tarp load. They lose quite a few loads from time to time. Until you know the type of freight you will be hauling I would go with the 2 steel and 1 lumber tarp if you want to stick with 3 tarps. By turning the steel tarps sideways you can tarp an 8' tall load. Tarp shops can make you any size tarp you want. If you haul a lot of coils you may want to buy one or more coil sacks. They just slip right over the coil. I would not want to haul a lot of coils on a step deck. It is a waste of a good trailer.

 

That's the problem. I talked to Flatbed Dispatch a few times and they just keep beating about the bush in terms of tarps and pretty much everything else. MacKinnon itself only has flatbed trailers in their Flatbed Division (tandems, multi-axle, and b-trains). So, they are not too sure about stepdeck but they have freight. I suspect I won't haul coils (even with a flatbed last summer I did it only once and these were smaller coils, where you take 5 of them). Also, on the flatbed I remember using steel tarps much more often than 8' foot 'monsters' But I saw of the stepdecks haul 8' loads a couple of times in ... winter. Your advice re: 3 pc tarp setup makes sense as I want to get started with as little cash outlay as possible and then add tarps if necessary later on. Thanks very much!

PS: I just saw a low Wilson step at a Flying J (17.5" wheels) and it sits really low! that's going to be great for tarping.

 

Do you mean they're bad for the trailer? Mine will have reinforced frame - "steel coil package"...