There may not be much difference in the working weight of straps and chains. Some freight does better with chains and others with straps. I don't usually use straps with coils unless the coil is aluminum. I may throw a strap across the top of a coil if it is a particularly heavy coil. Chains work better with equipment and certain types of machinery. It depends on what you want to secure. I never use a strap to secure something if there is a chance the product could cut my strap without protecting my straps. Steel can cut a strap in a heartbeat if you are not careful. Regardless of what you want to secure it is important to know the working weight of your chains or straps.

WLL of straps must be equal to 50% of the load weight, not 100%. So, if you have 40,000 lbs you only need to get enough straps to total the WLL of 20,000 lbs. That's what the law says.

I'm hauling 9 small coils right now and they are loaded "eyes forward". I set up racks on 4x4s, rubber mats etc and used one strap per each coil to tie them down. Might be an overkill in terms of weight (the total is only 41,175 lbs) but the crane guy said he was required to leave 3"-4" gaps between the coils, so I felt I needed to have them all strapped.

There's more than one way to skin a cat Tracer. I probably would have put a 4X4 across the rack to keep the coils 4" apart and chained them conventionally through the eye and have 3 groups of 3 coils with two chains through the eye of each group. Something to remember paper wrapped coils can slide a lot easier than bare ones.

Unless they are aluminum I would have used chains to secure them. I might still have used a strap over the top, but I feel more comfortable securing coils with chains. I would probably have put a couple of chains on each coil and thrown at least 1 strap on each one as well. I also use racks and rubber mats, but that won't stop a coil if it decides to move. It is not as likely to move with it being loaded shotgun or eye to the front, but you never know. I doubt that I will ever be 100% comfortable hauling coils. I usually over secure them, if that is possible. I suppose that I have just seen too many that have rolled off the truck or over it. :eek2:

I don't like coils either ... but straps did hold them pretty good especially because there was rubber everywhere: between racks and the trailer deck; and between coils and 4x4 pieces they were sitting on. I delivered them in Peterborough, ON this afternoon and when I took the tarp off I didn't see any shifting or any other surprises. No tarps were cut.

You are not likely to cut a strap with the coils loaded shotgun. I rarely rely on a single strap, even if it is all that is legally required. Rubber mats can make a difference in whether a coil moves or not. I have had a coil move forward even with the mats. It didn't move much, but it got my attention. I had to lock my truck down when a 4 wheeler cut me off. Had that not happened it would likely not have moved.

Do you carry all the dunnage to make those racks and spacers onboard - or does the shipper provide some of the material for you?

Just curious - lotta wood went into that setup there...

Rick

Which escort service did you use and did MacKinnon pay for that or you?

Also, those winch tracks that you were complaining about? Wait until winter. The sand and water gets on the winch rail and the only way to get them to slide is to beat them with your winch bar. They kinda suck that way.

Bruce never bought me breakfast or gave me a jacket. Hmm.

Good question ... I was worried as I pulled in their "Staging Yard". All the notices on the shack's outside walls said truckers needed to have their own dunnage for coils! I had none on my trailer (it's heavy, i'm not a flatbed, and usually most shippers provide the stuff for free anyway; these are some of the reasons why I don't carry any wood). Another notice on the wall there said I could purchase 4x4s at a store nearby and that the approximate price was ... US$7 per piece. I lucked out with the crane guy who was loading me: he talked to his supervisor and instead of sending me away to the store they supplied me with the wood and rubber mats and spacers to put between the coils at $0 cost. I got rid of the wood again at the consignee (who was happy to take it) but kept most of these long and narrow rubber mats - they can be handy in protecting straps put on sharp edges ... their only drawback is they are heavy as hell.