I was thinking this would work for one of those "you might be a redneck if" jokes. I began the long drive from Utah to Northern Minnesota and after about 12 miles the tarp was flapping and starting to move around. I had attempted to tuck all the sides of the tarp under the load so that the weight would keep it in place. Didn't work. So I pulled off the freeway in Henefer and bought some rope. This worked for about 700 miles. I had to readjust the rope a couple of times, but it held until the 30 to 45 mile an hour cross wind of South Dakota started shredding the tarp. Early on the second day the tarp got a rip in it and that was when things started unraveling fast. I adjusted the rope again, looked a bit like a spider's web when I was done. An hour later the first section of the rope snapped. Then another, and then another. So I pulled over, got a new tarp and re-setup segments of rope. After a half hour signs of the previous problems started showing. So I pulled over again bought a cargo net. 23 miles later the cargo net snapped. Now not only was the cross wind trying to push my 4500 pound box trailer sideways, but it was raining and I needed to keep the boxes in the back of the truck dry under the tarp. I swear that tarp was trying to get loose and was more of a sail than a protection. So I bought some bungee cords. Those broke too. Now, no where near a store and knowing that I had to do something I tried to combine the remains of the cargo net, the segments of rope and the remaining bungee cord. 3 miles later that failed. So in my frustration I grabbed a roll of duct tape and started trying to get the tarp to stay still while I worked on a way to keep it attached. After I got done with my moment of craziness I looked at the tarp and what do you know? The tarp wasn't flapping in the cross wind. So I tried to drive a ways, and when I checked it again in 15 minutes I began to wish I'd have just tried to tape it down 4 hours earlier when the first tarp ripped open. So after two tarps, 50 feet of rope, 4 bungees and several stops to re-adjust, duct tape was the answer. Moral of the story, always carry duct tape.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Duct Tape
I was thinking this would work for one of those "you might be a redneck if" jokes. I began the long drive from Utah to Northern Minnesota and after about 12 miles the tarp was flapping and starting to move around. I had attempted to tuck all the sides of the tarp under the load so that the weight would keep it in place. Didn't work. So I pulled off the freeway in Henefer and bought some rope. This worked for about 700 miles. I had to readjust the rope a couple of times, but it held until the 30 to 45 mile an hour cross wind of South Dakota started shredding the tarp. Early on the second day the tarp got a rip in it and that was when things started unraveling fast. I adjusted the rope again, looked a bit like a spider's web when I was done. An hour later the first section of the rope snapped. Then another, and then another. So I pulled over, got a new tarp and re-setup segments of rope. After a half hour signs of the previous problems started showing. So I pulled over again bought a cargo net. 23 miles later the cargo net snapped. Now not only was the cross wind trying to push my 4500 pound box trailer sideways, but it was raining and I needed to keep the boxes in the back of the truck dry under the tarp. I swear that tarp was trying to get loose and was more of a sail than a protection. So I bought some bungee cords. Those broke too. Now, no where near a store and knowing that I had to do something I tried to combine the remains of the cargo net, the segments of rope and the remaining bungee cord. 3 miles later that failed. So in my frustration I grabbed a roll of duct tape and started trying to get the tarp to stay still while I worked on a way to keep it attached. After I got done with my moment of craziness I looked at the tarp and what do you know? The tarp wasn't flapping in the cross wind. So I tried to drive a ways, and when I checked it again in 15 minutes I began to wish I'd have just tried to tape it down 4 hours earlier when the first tarp ripped open. So after two tarps, 50 feet of rope, 4 bungees and several stops to re-adjust, duct tape was the answer. Moral of the story, always carry duct tape.
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3 comments:
Awesome! I appreciate that you posted a pic too. I must admit, duct tape is amazing...and, yes, slightly red neck. But you can't argue with results! Glad you had some with you.
Perhaps the moral of the story is:
Everything can be FIXED with duct tape.
I notice it sort of matches the pain on the truck, so maybe you can leave it on the bare spots that once had paint before you used duct tape. :)
now i want to see the results from the duck tape on the truck....
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