You hardly ever see a truck these days roped and sheeted proffesionally . And it makes me wonder how many truck drivers out there now can rope and sheet a load correctly so that it stays on. After spending many years hauling many different types of loads that needed to be roped in different ways I have always shown pride in the way my load is tied on . My first few years on the road in 1961 were taken up by trailor mating at BRS where I learned the basic skills of tying on a load and sheeting it without getting the load wet and from then on I have always taken a pride in my sheeting and roping making sure ropes are strait and sheets are put on neatly. I can remember one time a chap coming out of the office at Cadbury’s Tern Hill where I had loaded powdered milk in bags , he was taking photos of my wagon .Oh ■■■■ I thought as I had borrowed a sack of milk that was in the cab so to speak 
But all he was interested in was the way my load was roped and sheeted and I was asked to go into the office where I was told that the picture would be used to show others what they expected a load to look like when leaving the yard. Of course everything is in vans nowadays but I was just wondering how many peeps out there can tell me how they tie on different loads like , tyres ,between the tiers, tongue and groove timber I used figure of eight .
GUS if you look at the useful sites forum there are a few sites about
loading and how to correctly secure your load, here in GERMANY the use of ropes to secure a load is about 10% as the majority use either
rachet straps in various strengths up to 10tn, chains, chocks,locking
secureing boards,anti-slip mats,air-bags, etc these are the modern day items now used to secure loads on the vehicles,
I would like to say that this was how i used to carry small plane engines around in the 1980, tied down on each corner with its own rope and i never had any problems at all, also when a load was correctly done you never lost the load and it looked smart,
I really used to enjoy R&S work. It added another dimension to the job and could easily become an artform. I don’t miss freezing,wet hands in winter though, or having to lump soaking wet, ink black sheets around.
Long time since I roped and sheeted and I don’t miss it one bit!!!
I could guarantee every time I took a flat out, it was either raining or I was fighting the wind trying to sheet it.
I know one of the guys at my old firm who tipped the whole rig into a ditch!! He was a master of R&S and he never lost the load!!! He became a yardhand and if you had upset him, he would make a ‘bacon roll’ out of your load and you would need a knife to undo the ropes lolol Never seen knots as tight as his!
I hated roping and sheeting which is why my mates and I were always on the lookout for loads that needed just chains. 
Having said that, after spending the best part of 2 hours spreading 2x40’ square sheets on Raleigh bikes, roping every hook plus a cross front and back and a ‘Dundee’ cross just for good measure, I would stand back lost in admiration for my skill and marvel at the neat parcel that resulted. Nothing flapped on the road and no wet got in.
But - all those agonising cuts on the sides of your hands, even when wearing gloves, where the freezing wet salty water got in - I don’t miss that 
Salut, David.
little bit off subject but are canvas/cotton sheets ever water proof even when new? mines an old’n and leaks like a sieve but even the lads carrying steel with what look like new sheets still have water on the steel when they take the sheet off.
paul b:
little bit off subject but are canvas/cotton sheets ever water proof even when new? mines an old’n and leaks like a sieve but even the lads carrying steel with what look like new sheets still have water on the steel when they take the sheet off.
they are if the load is wrapped right. I worked for a firm delivering packing materials, pallets and cardboard boxes on a flatbed, so there wasn’t much room for mistakes.
Thing that anoyed me was their regular drivers had curtainsiders 
The water on your steel could be condensation 
My lorry always looks like a real dogs dinner with the tilt on.
I’m getting better at it though.
I must take a camera with me more often.
we sometimes used to load a double deck of milk bottles the fork lift driver would put you on top to put your sheets on then disappear if you remembered you would have thrown a rope over the front so you could lower yourself to the headboard then down on the catwalk if you didnt . HA HA . i suppose now days ive got my hiviz to protect me . what would HaS rules make of a fat bloke getting in and out of an atkinson on a wet day .
Dont suppose anybody really misses it, although it would be a good idea to make it part of the driving test 
Right Driver, I want you to sheet that load of chipboard up and drive down the road to the first roundabout 
It will never happen, health and safety will soon have it banned as in many places you are not allowed to climb on your trailer, the weight of a sheet will be too heavy for one man to wrap up, and you will have someones eye out with that rope
Before the invention of PSK and Skelly twistlocks, the normal way of fastening containers on was with rope 
Im sad…I like roping & sheeting!
For me, it turns into a bit of a battle, & I cant rest until it is PERFECT. Each knot has to be just right, & it takes me forever, but when you stand back & see it all done neat & tidy its quite a nice feeling.
However, its a different story when its pouring with rain & blowing a gale, I really hate it then!
Going off on a bit of a tangent, I was away last weekend with a Bothy work party, renovating a Bothy up in North Wales. As theres no roof on the building, apart from a couple of beams, we had 3 huge tarpaulins to put across the roof & tie down. I tried to explain to everyone how to do a Sheep Shank, but honestly, they didnt have a clue, I had to keep following them round the building re doing their handywork! 
T.■■
i was made to learn it from the age of about 14 (mainly wool loads, i remember ending up IN the canal at shipley one cold friday night cos i got a strop on about it and fell off a 4 high load trying to catch a rope 
) and would like to say i love it but i’d be lying
although i love to SEE a load done properly by somebody else, doing it is a different matter - i’ve obviously deleted it from my mind too as last time i sheeted a high/wide load some wag commented it resembled richard branson’s balloon!
You can’t learn to rope and sheet a load from a web site 
It takes pratical use, when I first started out I watched some old guy for hours and he showed me over and over again. I always took pride in how tightand neat the sheets were, if there was any flapping I would stop and rectify it, taking the lot off and starting again if needed.
Tie and dolly properly once and you will never forget it. I stopped roping and sheeting in 1998. In 2001 my first driving job here involved flat trailers, I used rope instead of these whimpy straps and got very strange looks when I held that rope in my hands and tied a perfect dolly first time Drivers here have never seen them before.
One place i worked a while back we used to do some steel loads that had to be sheeted, the sheet that we were having to use were rubbish, some were old potatoe bulker sheets that had been replaced with easy sheets, they were shaped at 1 end and ivariably had few securing ties on them, but it made for an intresting expierience trying to make them secure water tight and look good, and would often comment to any one who wasnt listening, that i could strip, load , secure and rebuild a tilt quicker than load and sheet a flat, no mistaking my prefference
On Millenium Year, I treated myself to 3 weeks hard labour on board the Sir Winston Churchill, the sail training vessel which has now been replaced by a new fangled brig
Part of the training involved tying various wimpy sailor knots to fasten sails to masts or tie up a 300 ton schooner.
I commented that I was struggling to tie a half hitch, but could do a dolly
Soon after that I had the Captain and Bo’sun intrigued by this strange knot. I caught them practising several times after that
Wheel Nut:
On Millenium Year, I treated myself to 3 weeks hard labour on board the Sir Winston Churchill, the sail training vessel which has now been replaced by a new fangled brig
Was it replaced because some loon had secured everyone and everything nice and neat under the sheet, bow to stern, starboard to portside, and all that could heard, was the cursing of a fellow at the tall peaces of timber spoiling the shape of his load
You can take the bloke out of the wagon but not the wagon out of the bloke
I bet you got some tales from doing that, nice one
if i get asked about Tilts and R & S i tell people i’ve read about it in books
cos thats were history belongs
Can’t say that I agree with that really , roping and sheeting a load has always been a part of the job that two drivers would help each other with , just like changing a wheel 
doesn’t happen now does it . I think that if a driver has no intention of learning to tie on a load they miss out on a part of truck driving that brings out the best in other drivers and also they are limiting what an employer can ask of them.
anyone putting a load on a flat that would go in a curtainsider is justing making work for themselves…vis a vis
i was told to take a flat to customer because thats what the customer wanted … what i did was turn up at the customer with a euro liner on the pretext that i would be back in 20 mins with a flat held up tipping round the corner excuse…
while they were showing me what i was taking to Aberdeen it came out one of the pieces was quite tall 2.8 metre hence the flat…but the only thing that made it high was a moter held on by 4 bolts which they took off while drinking my cup of tea…
WE loaded the euroliner by forklift we tipped by forklift and all that was need was plenty of straps …no risky climbing on machine risking damage or damage caused by heavy sheets on plastic guards…R & S would have added 2 hours to the job
Roping and sheeting? [zb] that
