Paul:
I was taught by my dad as a 10 yr old. On a Saturday morning I would go into work with him and help him and the other drivers at Sheldons Howarth and Wilson (Bury then Bolton) to load up and sheet their loads. It came in very handy when I passed my class 1 and started driving. I travelled all over europe with flats and used to get some strange looks from our european friends. It was an art and one that I took pride in.
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my dad worked for sheldons and i used to spend all holidays with him roping and sheeting loads and loved it my dad was keith goodier and used to drive an erf then a daf 2800 and finished up with a sed atki
I used to rope and sheet nearly every load before my 13 year enforced sabatical from artics, this is the first rope and sheet load I did after getting my class 1 back again, I had forgotten all about the blisters though lol
Hi guys, just wondering how many of you still use flat trailers and have to rope and sheet loads? Reason i ask is none of the guys i work with now can and seem to laugh at the thought!! When i first started on artics you were lucky to get a curtain trailer and we were taught by the old boys how to rope and sheet. First artic job i had was with T. Baden Hardstaffs of East Leake Leics working out of gypsum plasterboard works. Early nineties so not that long ago i keep telling me self!!
pavaroti:
Rockwool! shoud be ilegal to carry that stuff on a flat beds same as loft insulation, has to be tied down with rope, straps and rachets no good.
pavaroti:
Rockwool! shoud be ilegal to carry that stuff on a flat beds same as loft insulation, has to be tied down with rope, straps and rachets no good.
I agree with the insulation (i assume you mean sheets i.e ecotherm/kingspan etc), The plasterboard is fine on flats though, i double up pallets of plasterboard on a dropside (only about a foot high sides) and never have any problems. Problems arise when there not banded and wrapped properly, chipboard is far worse!
pavaroti:
Rockwool! shoud be ilegal to carry that stuff on a flat beds same as loft insulation, has to be tied down with rope, straps and rachets no good.
I agree with the insulation (i assume you mean sheets i.e ecotherm/kingspan etc), The plasterboard is fine on flats though, i double up pallets of plasterboard on a dropside (only about a foot high sides) and never have any problems. Problems arise when there not banded and wrapped properly, chipboard is far worse!
Yeah mate, used to move plasterboard out of East Leake. Trick was how shunter loaded it for you, Double stacked boards, no bands or shrinkwrap just clever placed corner boards and sheets then fly sheet and ropes. Art in itself really!!
I still like to see a nicely sheeted load. Takes me back to when my grandad and his mate had their own lorries, not a curtain or container insight, all flats, a low loader and 2 semi low loaders. Everything had to be tied on, saw this a couple of weeks ago, still flying the flag for the industry…
Probably one of the last loads i sheeted, o.k its just a fly but it still kept my hand in…
This fly sheet was a cut down from an old curtain sider, talk about heavy…
Pulling out of Bowater Scotts Barrow Mill,circa early '76.The load would be destined for their RDC in West Thurrock and would have been changed over at Milnthorpe for the night trunk to Daventry.We used to load 4 or 5 loads a day of tissue for this destination,clamped straight onto the flat and we only had one load “shot” in the 8 or 9 years we used flats!! I wonder if to-days drivers could achieve the same standards,never mind the same record? Bewick.
gunnerheskey:
Sat up in their top-mega-highline opti auto tronic gearboxed 500s… i doubt it Dennis…
They would probably all end up like this now “gunner” only worse,it would be on the deck,total loss!! At least we managed to tranship this load ,and never lost a case!!! The only one we lost out of the '000’s we hauled over the 300+ miles between Barrow and West Thurrock! Cheers Dennis.
I remember that it used to be a job you took a pride in and a well sheeted load using two 30x20s and a fly looked good,( or in a few cases not), I used to do nothing else a few years ago, I had a flat on the other week, my head told me I could still lift and chuck sheets, and jump up on the trailer like I used to, then my arms and legs didn,t agree , I also had blisters on my hands , suddenly realised I wasn,t the young fit lad I used to be
i do it most weeks but half the guys who work at our place dont want to learn but have to do it even if they can not.i was asked to go to birkenhead one day.got there young lad said ur to load the flat i got and sheet it while i go back to yard with the empty curtain.i turned round and said i got mug on my fore head he said no rang the office ask the same they said no.told them i was on my way back and he could do it.he sias i may run out of hours by the time i done it.all i said so what a night out will not hurt u and left him to it.to this day he still can not sheet at all.
hate the drivers who do not want to do this type of work.
thunder367:
hate the drivers who do not want to do this type of work.
Its a ball ache. Its dirty and heavy, its time consuming. A guy could go his whole career whithout being asked to do this type work, thats how common it is. RDC’s (the bulk of our work) never need it, and very few customers demand or require it. But hey, each to their own !!
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, I also had blisters on my hands 
, suddenly realised I wasn,t the young fit lad I used to be 