Hi from France ,i used to work for Blakiston's in Geelong,back in the 80's, i was based in Melbourne, i use to tarp two,maybe three times a day,depending on the frieght, Melbourne-Geelong isn't that far. Back then it was a matter of pride,that front and back enveloppe had to be tighter than a guitar string,when you were finished there wouldn't be a single crease, looked as though it had been ironed.There was an art to folding your tarp,an art to unrolling it as well. I've even still have some photos. Your knots are called a half hitch and a clove hitch.Some times you'd have to splice the ends,even slice two ropes to make one or simply slice the ropes back onto to your tarp. But now some 34 years later,god knows how many miles,i now drive a petrol tanker local in and around Lyon. I really like your chanel,i enjoy all of your vidéos,i honestly can't fault any of them. Have a great day.

I’ve always called the knots with the loops in them a Sheepshank & a 1/2 hitch on the tie rail. And how you’ve tarped that trailer is absolutely exactly the way I was taught 40 years ago & was still using them when I was last on the Darwin run in 2016

I agree with you about the talking mate. Those yanks can talk a glass eye to sleep. I’ve always been a watch and learn bloke.

Hi! I am writing to you from Poland, I am also a truck driver, but I drive on a walking floor. Your videos are very interesting, I can see the hardships of working in Australia, the climate is different in Europe and work seems to be easier on a refrigerated trailer, curtainsider or flatbed. I have a little dream to visit Australia. Greetings, wide road John! ;)

We always called them sheepshanks. Tarping with wet muddy ropes in winter was always great fun, dry, cracked skin wasn't sore at all... The quality of the tarp job showed the quality of the operator.

Way back when, in the UK, I used to drive much smaller trucks than you do, but I really enjoyed roping and tarping. The systems were different, no bars to rope to, but numerous welded hooks under the flat. Anyway, then straps took over and the art seemed to go out of it! I still love rope though - maybe that's why I now live on a boat 🙂.

Back in the 70s in Yorkshire UK we used to not only tie down the tarp but secure the load using ropes. We used to call it a "twitch". It allowed you to double the leverage you could put on the rope. 😂😂😂 Brings back memories of working with my Dad. Thank you.

Love watching your tarp job. Everyone does it different. In the states i pulled a single 48 foot flat trailer,i had 4 tarps. We rolled them out from back to front depending on the size of the load,sometimes I'd use all 4 sometimes not. But still like watching others tarp jobs.

Great job you doing. Stay safe. Love seeing your Kenworth. Beauty of a truck.👍

I think you are doing just fine doing what you have been doing, please keep it up if you can. Thx

Another way of putting the 1/2 hitch is to wrap the rope behind it self before you reef down on it and it’s easier to undo when you want to undo the rope, hard to explain here , but something an old truckie showed me 40 years ago, cheers,

We call them a dolly knot here in the uk .nice job of that sheeting.

I think in the UK the truckers would refer to them as "hitches". I.e. A truckers hitch. Enjoy the videos very informative, good drone shots.

I really enjoy watching your videos .love Australia ! Would love too visit someday. Ron from Maine USA

Hi Johno Good meeting you at the BP at Kewdale today, having a bit of a look at your channel, some great info. Saying that I'll stick with my box, no tarping for this old boy Say hi to Ken for me and the Lindsay Mob Cheers Pete

Greetings from bernie from hamburg germany

I started tarping in London '75 for Lucas Industries, (The Man Who Invented Darkness), and did heaps more for Layton-Kirkman doing steel and soda ash, ( middle of summer, long sleeve overalls ). I always called those rope hitches 'dollies'. The earlier commenter was right. All the London loads were held down with ropes, usually old weather beaten ropes that you could snap with a double dolly. All the trailers had open hooks along the side. Made it easy to loop the load and tarp ropes; you didn't have to feed through a combing rail. Power steering was only for new trucks, the rest had 'Armstrong' steering. Tautliners were only just coming in. When I got back to Oz in 78 there wasn't a tautliner to be seen. We was men then indeed! Nearly a half century since then of the road. Sunrises, diesel, dust and dead roos. Going back to flatbed and tarping this year. 70? Too old? I'll soon find out :)

I only know it as a "truckies knot".....comes in very handy.

What an effort! Must add a couple of hours each way loading and unloading the tarp! Another great video Johno!

I recently quit a job where I was doing multi drop steel deliveries and tarping. Earlier on this year, I was standing on top of the load after completing the first drop of 5 and pulling the tarp back across (one side was still tied off) and as I was pulling it over a gust of wind ballooned the tarp, a rope wrapped around my ankle and knocked me over. Luckily I'm fit and strong and all that happened was I fell on my back on top of a pack of steel. Big tarps are bloody dangerous in windy conditions. Freaky shit like this happens. After that I was so over multi drop steel deliveries I looked for a tanker job. I like hard work but a time comes where you realize for the degree of effort and experience you have they aren't paying you enough and it starts eating at you. Tarp, untarp, retarp, repeat in the rain is hard yakka. They make you tarp when it's 40deg C or raining, it doesn't matter. I was getting reasonable not great money as a company driver say $75k a year for 40 hours with holiday and sick pay. So I looked and found a tanker job and I now get paid $9 an hour more for doing one or two pickups and one delivery (which I'm not required to unload) with overtime and penalty rates. The only hard work in this job is sometimes I have to break up the trailers to load and I always have to break them up at the end of each shift for unloading which means the set has to be assembled at the start of the shift too. I'm never in the same truck in this job though and they're all lowish power and I drive in hilly country so they're slow when loaded, like really slow - 25kmh slow many times. Crappy 425hp auto Macks... I miss my 600hp Cummins in the K104 from the steel job but that's about all I miss. When it was slow it was still doing 70kmh LOL.

We used to tarp our loads like that, but not in the UK now , it's more curtainsiders, or ratchet straps now.

Wow, I used to see heaps of trucks in the 70s and 80s with tarps on loads. Don't see a lot these days. Thank you for bringing back good memories . 👍

Good job on the tarp l liked how you tied your tarp down, nice and neat.

Plenty of half hitch & dbl clove hitch anchor knots there, with a few decent sheepshank truckies knots, old school, nice. i knew i was forced to go to boy scouts for a reason, just didnt realize way back then

You have nice balance between talking, silence, music and engine noise!

The wind can be an opponent. The advantage of the heavy canvas,insteat of plastic tarp. I never done that. Whel just once.With a load of sugar carrots. Driving in the cold night. That tarps had to be against the frost. But it was that thin plastic orange tarp. With bungees. Totally worthless,But they wanted that. hahaha. You know as i what happend. On the road it was completely torn into pieces. Flapping among the truck. And then i have to clean it up in the cold dark,and put it away. Everything for nathing.and cold as a ice cube. So you made an other teaching video what we can learn from. Your vids are very good Johnno.Always different and there is everything in it. Education, the landscape even with a drone, what you are experiencing, the truck,the roads etc. You show it all calmly and in peace.Just like Tez and FreeBrisbane. You are not the ''show off type'' and ''look how good i am''. But you are. I dont know if every truckie or Aussie is like that.But it dos do good. Just normal people.Better than the bozo's over here.Overal, do not like it here. As someone already wrote, the operational areas for A-Doubles/triples and B-doubles and when to yuse them, and why and ,seems like a good topic too.intresting. Stay safe. Have a vrey nice time with your family at home.

I vividly remember my first ever tarping on my own. Loaded at the old Clyde Oil Refinery in Sydney. Forkie put top tarp on top for me. Put the gates on. Got the curtains on. Spread out the top tarp, then ... a bloody gale whipped up! Lost the tarp twice before I finally got the job done. Gave the forkies some entertainment

man didnt know this was so much work....really gratefull we have truck drivers doing this job all year round. as for future content: basically do what you enjoy doing for content, because this joy comes across in videos. I always liked the rather short videos driving through all the beautiful landscapes you go through, with or without music. Its always so relaxing and inspiring :)

New subscriber and a old man that used to drive big trucks single trailers tankers and flatbeds I don't anything wrong with the way you tie your tarp keep on keeping on from USA

Wow, as a boilermaker on truck and trailer maintenance I love watching drivers and yardies busting their ass putting tarps on ,and wonder whether if they have heard of Tautliners. The two knots are clove hitch and sheepshank. I like your videos Johnno, regards steve

You're keeping it interesting and compare very well with our overseas friends digger.

Excellent work, here in the USA we use rubber rope and bungees.

Yeah that knot is a truckers knot. My whole life around trucks and my whole family drives trucks my favorite is the KW AND Pete 379 Well the one that is done on your trailer is a hitch and the one on the tarp is a truckers knot

Everyone has their own unique way or style or Tarping Johnno.. As long as the freights cover mate.. Most of our tarps had a 3rd row of shorteners.. My tarp even had extra ones to pull the flap out at each end.. Used to take me around 3hrs each end to tarp a bdouble lol.. Two of our tarps were 6ft drop 5ft gates they took some work to get right.. Good job mate! 👌

More traditional way of doing it. I was watching a trucking show from Canada. They use rubber stretch hook straps. Not ropes on the tarps. Or at least the one I was watching did. That seemed weird to me. When I first got to Oz from UK and went to tie anything to a truck I was lost. On all the trailers I had worked with they had hook tie offs. Not rails. Did the truckie hitch pulled the loop down to hook off. No hook. Had to get someone to show me. Go behind the rail up and across. Then pull the loop up and make the hitch. I had always made the hitch first. My brain just got cross wired. Now after 25 years of rails. That seems the norm. Still annoys me a bit having to keep feeding the rope behind a rail all the time. It is easier to tie to a hook. But both systems have their benefits and faults. Very true. If they flap, they tear.

Johnno, double wrap the top knot of the sheep shank and it will NEVER slip when tightening ( Give it plenty of back 😂) Also unwraps easily when undoing wet ropes. Keep up the good work mate.

Hi mate, I used to tie my truckie knot the same way you do but I got sick of trying to push the knob end through the twist loop. Instead of twisting the loop with your fingers, I just wrap the knob end that's in your left, with a double wrap (use right hand and the rope that you would have twisted). Make sure the second wrap sits inside the first wrap and next to the strained rope so that it doesn't try to flip off. Hope that makes some sense.

Hi, most informative. Takes me back 40 plus years. I notice that your trailers do not have load scales, so it might help others if you can explain how you calculate where to place on your load on the trailers, for maximum loading on both the tri's, dolly and drive. Another topic that could be discussed is the operational areas for A-Doubles in Australia. This would help your overseas subscribers understand our many different regulations, both Federal and State.

My father taught me this knot, many decades ago...he called it a "Truckies Hitch".

Enjoyed the video thanks

After some years playing with tarps in all kinds of weather,I was glad to spend the last 10 years before retirement on curtain siders.

Hi mate I love your channel as it is

It's like putting socks on centipedes!

Hi over here in the uk the knot with a loop is called a dolly 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

I like your attitude. It doesn't matter how much you know, if you keep your eyes open (and your mind) you can ALWAYS learn new ways of doing stuff. LOVE how you show bits of our country most people never get to see. Keep doing what you are doing! Cheers and G'day from Tasmania

David Hunn Ah, fond memories of ropes, especially when new, ripping my lower fingers to shreds on a wet day when I started my driving life. 🙂

You said like a crane driver, but the word you were looking for is a double hitch, you don’t see as many fully tarped loads anymore, mostly see pantech trailers, on national highways, tarpping is very labour intensive, but good to watch an expert, cheers from Downunder ❤️🦘🦘🦘🇦🇺

Nice job bloke👌

Just like clutches and stick shift, tarping loads is a dying trade. Great video mate.

Hi Johnno ..loved the video. My dad taught me to do the 2nd loop you do then the half hitch. Not sure what it’s called the 2nd loop you do, I also taught my boys. As you can imagine many not know how to tie down these days, as every one has straps.great video mate.

What a great job tarping. In my country flatbeds are common used by truckers and they tarp with ropes too, the method is the same but they ties the ropes all around over the tarp from side to side to secure it, as well with some loads too. I hope to buy my truck to start in the industry😄 Cheers from Venezuela👋

Brings back memories,done it thousands of times back in the day,and the wind is a bugger

He mate i try watch all your videos i live in Tailem Bend you would of driven straight past my front door. Keep up the good work

In answer to your question about what content you should post? Just keep doing what you’re doing mate, I’m 55 & was medically retired in 2016 when I broke my back, I now live vicariously through yours & other Aussie road train especially videos

I've always called em a truckies knot,I use to do tarps back in the mid 90''s after 3 years I had the biggest kalis on the side of my right hand which was atleast 10mm thick of hard skin and when it cracked now and then was very annoying and painful,joys of tarping.

A well tarped load always looks good. It is half a sheep shank, the other half is the rail. Clove hitch on the rail as everyone has pointed out. You only really need 2 knots to tie anything on. You are doubling the mechanical advantage and halving the effort by putting the rope through the ring or you can put another shank in and do the same thing as you know. Just like a pulley block and tackle but with more friction. Can you show us how you roll the excess strap up and loop it up? I wonder if the American bloke in the other comment with his rubber straps has ever worn a ring in the face when something broke? Jeff

You need to come over to the UK and give a few drivers a lesson on tarping loads. - The number of times I see tarps and ropes flapping in the breeze is scary, worst are when half the trap is dragging along the road surface, and a massive length of rope trailing behind....

North America we use either two piece or 3 piece tarps for a whole trailer the front and rear tarps will have a 10 by 10 flap at one end! We use rubber bungie cords or rubber rope to secure the tarps. When tarping we do the rear tarp first an work our way forward!

I am on flatbed here in Canada and our trailers are 53’ but I often do super B’s too. I always have to use at least 2 tarps to cover the load, sometimes even 4🙄. Tarping is hard work. In the summer you are sweating like ….. and in proper Canadian winter the tarps don’t fold too much😁. I use bungees not ropes to tie the tarps down. I’m planning to move to Australia next year and drive there so I’m glad I found your channel. You got so many interesting and valuable things here. You just got another subscriber mate!

Good day Johno, The art of tarping it is certainly a lost art these days of tautliners etc. Like you I occasionally have to tarp up my load of timber for local work here in Melbourne, our company doesn’t own a tautliner trailer everything flat bed trailers all 45 ft long. Dangerous walking on a tarp whilst it is windy on your own. Back in the 90’s whilst working at NTFS in Adelaide everyday tarp at least 5 trailers to go piggy back on the Alice train on the way to Darwin. If you didn’t know how to tarp no start & being the new fella always up the top at 4.6 metres rolling out the tarp so many times I came very close to falling over the side & the wind used to pick up the tarp used to scare the shit out of you. Count it as rest time or work time on the book. Could be worse doing it in the rain. Great video you do admire looking at a tarp load these days when ever you come across one on the road. Safe driving. Cheers Louis Kats 👍 😊 🇦🇺

Makes me appreciate the fridge trailers! Nice job by the way mate. Can tell you’ve done that once or twice before 👍🏻

Love your tarp job, we had to do all our loads like that, can appreciate your effort.

I used to like tarping making them nice and tight and straight but I definitely don't miss it now that I'm a tanker driver now.

When you start your hitch if you put the rope the other way you will not have to pull the rope through behind the knot. So start the hitch with the rope going from left to right. Just a thought. But whatever works.

Another good one johno i learned off my old man who has been doing it for 45 years tarping aint a bad skill to learn i like physical side to it like to keep active tighter the better when i pull up for a break set the alarm for 10 mins no more

(8:45) yep its all about the envelope Jonno,dont get that looking nice and square and pretty every fridge driver that's never tarped a load will be hanging it onya :).

It's called a Half Sheepshank....but known as a "truckies knot"

I have always called them a truckies knot or truckies hitch tied off with 2 half hitches. Pretty much the only 2 knots you ever need on a truck.

Tarping wasn’t my favourite part. Try to tarp and untarp in Canada at - 20 C. The tarp is hard as a rock. Sometimes, sticking on the load, so you have to climb on it… Tarping keeps you fit. You’ve got another subscriber 😀

After watching a little longer, I believe your truckers knot is not a true sheep shank, sheep shanks are double looped (each end) their old time use was to shorten a rope. Excellent and entertaining video. Regards Ray

Good work. Tarps like that/Canvas are built to last. Have a hiking pack made from that which is 30 years old and still going strong!

That was hugely educating.

I reckon that drone footage was done at Mount Compass???😉👌👍

Thank you for another awesome video. I’ve just got myself a DJI Mavic 2 Pro, so love watching the drone footage too.

G'day my name's Andrew from Tasmania I've been watching your tracking you top up your trailer down you are doing an absolute one question could you please take a video of inside your truck and your tiny bit about the inside of your truck if you could please the moving your GoPro so we can see more of the road thank you very much for preso appreciate everything you are doing on your show keep it up and Andrew from Tasmania Launceston

Love the content. Sit watching for hours even thou I don't drive big rigs. Learn loads and just love the way you go thru things and explain things in a carlm way. Give me a shout out Ady from Lincoln in the UK

Great work John thanks for sharing 🦘

I've always known it as a "truckie's hitch'

Another great video. I never appreciated the effort and skill it requires to tie a tarp into place properly let alone fold the ends neatly. I will never look at a well tarped trailer the same way again. I have no doubt you make you bed every morning with the same techniques and care😂😂😂😂

Nice one Johnno. More long form videos. Thanks for the tip on the 15 min power naps rather than a half hour one. Maybe do a run down on all the guages and dials etc in the cab. What's your fave wok in a box. Never had one but might get one tomorrow. Maybe you should get them to sponsor you. Cheers!

Gee i really enjoy your video's and your presenting style. Keep going. Well done

That’s what she said!😂

We have a variation of the truckers knot here in the UK . Take the rope coming from over the load , pull tight making a loop and placing across the rope wrap around twisting and placing the loose around a hook ( we have hooks on UK trailers ) pulling tight , double up or even triple to pull really tight ...good for cabins and portable buildings . As for climbing on the trailer ...not a chance , on most sites here you would be banned from site because of health and safety regulations . Drive safely .

Well done Johno, you made an excellent Job, you are an artist ☺👌👍

👍

So good

As a non truck driver I'm enjoying watching your videos. Wow how may hours spent preparing befor the drive. Keep up the good work.

I really enjoy your videos, as always great content keep it up mate! Watching from New Zealand.

Music vs. engine noise vs. talk? Do what you want, in the end it's your channel not anyone else's. Content - more important. Not having followed you for very long (time) it's just fascinating to see where you go and how long it takes (fuel burn would be interesting every now and then). I do like the little maps you chuck in as they put your journey into context, and as for you food breaks - it's entertaining and fascinating to see the variety and price differences.

Great vid very entertaining.

❤

No wonder you are fighting the wind. Have you noticed how fast the traffic drives past you?

Well known to me also as a Truckies Knot

Great job, appreciate your efforts. Your channel, your decisions on content are good and varied. 😃👌👍

Thanks for the informative and useful video 👍👍

Good demo mate lots of information mate.

Awesome Jonno👍👍

Knot is called a Blackwell Hitch

I am from qld but drive around states tarps here r plastic and they r cunt of a things to put on. They use bungee cords here and u will see nice petes with flapping tarps. Good video mate.

Brings back memories watching you tarp. The wind was always a bugger lol. You did a fantastic job. Great video love the way you interact with your viewers with the talking. Have watched a few American truck drivers and one guy used the black rubber bungee straps to hold his his tarp down. To be honest I would not thought that was legal.