back in late 60s, did lots of irish peat bales, on flats shipped in from southern ireland,dont know who taught them irish lads how to do dolly knots,but you couldnt undo the bloody things! and if the rope was wet the only way to get the sheet off,was to cut every rope!god help you if you had to reload the flat!.. 
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots
hiya,
Trunkera1 used to do the same job from Northern Ireland Trailers at Preston Dock and i always got the job of loading the same flat for return you certainly had to have a sharp knife with them loads, i just used to tie all the bits together and send it back like that albeit proper dollies thinking if they dissected one of them they might get the message and maybe next time send me a decent load back it never worked though.
thanks harry long retired.
Know what you mean 
used you work for a subby of roadferry &pick up there unaccompanied trailers loaded with peat from heysham docks . You were embarrassed to take them out the docks 
The sheets were just chucked on (not enveloped!) & tied down with āthinā orange rope with knots everywhere 
then after delivering you were expected to backload with crap sheets & rope full of knots 
one of my efforts . 
harry_gill:
hiya,
Trunkera1 used to do the same job from Northern Ireland Trailers at Preston Dock and i always got the job of loading the same flat for return you certainly had to have a sharp knife with them loads, i just used to tie all the bits together and send it back like that albeit proper dollies thinking if they dissected one of them they might get the message and maybe next time send me a decent load back it never worked though.
thanks harry long retired.
i remember sitting in garden centres,with one of the bits of rope,trying to work out how the hell they did it,some people say dolly knots are hard to do ,but them irish knots are beyond belief.i used to do the same as you ,and tie all little bits of rope together,as long as it got me back to avonmouth,didnt really care what happened after that,but i did have secret visions of loads scattered all over dublin docks!!
park your wagon on your sheets and your bed on your boots
3 lined up ready to go.The far 2 were full loads and the sheets were a bit short,so thats the best i could do.Certainly keeps me fit.
Tonyb
Hi Tony
Iām glad to see you are keeping up the old tradition, theres not many of us left that can do it. Do they let you climb up on top to unroll the sheets or do H and S make you use scafolding ?. By the way I see you have a digger in your yard are you having work done, not as Iām touting for business 
Regards Keith
dessert driver:
Hi Tony
Iām glad to see you are keeping up the old tradition, theres not many of us left that can do it. Do they let you climb up on top to unroll the sheets or do H and S make you use scafolding ?. By the way I see you have a digger in your yard are you having work done, not as Iām touting for businessRegards Keith
Hi Keith.
Itās a tradition iād rather not keep up,but at least i get to sheet them under cover,We have go a proper area for doing them.A 50 foot beem suspended from the loading bay roof with a fall arrest system attatched to it.We then put on a harness and we have high steps to get up on to the load then attach our self to the fall arrest system,and as we roll the sheet out were safley attached to the beem.Not that iād want to fall from the top even attatched.
The digger has been fixen a broken pipe to the toilet block,nothing exciting,they fixed it today.
Regards
Tonyb
Hi Tony
No being lifted up on the forks then, and after doing the business jumping across onto the unit cabs roof to get down.Sounds as if itās a dodle sheeting under coverā¦no getting down to see your sheets being blown across the yard arr the good old days.
Regards Keith
dessert driver:
Hi Tony
No being lifted up on the forks then, and after doing the business jumping across onto the unit cabs roof to get down.Sounds as if itās a dodle sheeting under coverā¦no getting down to see your sheets being blown across the yardRegards Keith
Funny you should say that,The loading areas are protected from the rain but not the wind.So it has been known to see a sheet blown off the trailer before i get chance to tie a corner off.
Tonyb
dessert driver:
Hi Tony
No being lifted up on the forks then, and after doing the business jumping across onto the unit cabs roof to get down.
Regards Keith
I remember that, a bit dodgy when it was raining & the roof was all slippery, the headboard on the cab was very usefull then to stop you sliding off 
It used to dent the roof too, I had a Bedford KM that needed a good whack from the inside to pop the dent out, can you imagine turning up somewhere & doing that today, the health & safety man would have a fit
Who remembers loading tractors from Basildon & roping the wheels like this 
Step by step guide the health and saftey way.
First step is getting it loaded
No getting lifted on forks,steps are provided,then get yourself attached to the beam
View from the top
Ontop,withe sheets ready to roll out
Back sheet always first
Front sheet needs to overlap the rear
Ready to finish off.Note soaking wet sheets 
Finished and ready to park
Out in the yard ready for the driver
Takes about 30-40 minutes to do that,And after doing 3,ready for a sunday delivery,The loads have got cancelled AGAIN .So they have got to be unloaded again.
Tonyb
Well the men to blame for all your troubles with the peat moss on p&o and b&i flat trailers are Tony maher and Harry chambers does two lads worked in kilberry and portlaoise Bord na Mona when it was drop and pick,where most of the peat moss was loaded. They had a Fleet of red AEC shunters.Wish i had afew pics of them wreaks! oh yeah Harry was/is about 25 stone and you could have put a trl on its side and the load would not shift .As for cutting the ropes not a prob there was 1000!s of coils of it .
tonyb70:
3 lined up ready to go.The far 2 were full loads and the sheets were a bit short,so thats the best i could do.Certainly keeps me fit.
Tonyb
Nice sheeting job, now if you could just throw a couple of straps over it the driver would be very happy. 
hiya,
Straps sir, pray what are straps,the only straps i know are the ones the teacher used to lay across my arse on the rare occasion i showed up at school.
thanks harry long retired.
was that day the 27th of august 1943 harry??
hiya,
That could have been one of the days jimmy m, started school in 41 attended a few times between then and 51 i think i was a test pilot for the teachers to learn the art of punishment they would be gaoled in this day and age for cruelty regularly went home with my hands swelled up like puddings hated the place, come to think of it roping and sheeting could be a bit cruel on the old breadhooks as well if you wasānt a puff and wore gloves.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Straps sir, pray what are straps,the only straps i know are the ones the teacher used to lay across my arse on the rare occasion i showed up at school.
thanks harry long retired.
remy:
harry_gill:
hiya,
Straps sir, pray what are straps,the only straps i know are the ones the teacher used to lay across my arse on the rare occasion i showed up at school.
thanks harry long retired.
Bloody Hell Remy NO STRAPS and!!! no SPOTS either ! what kind of a ācowboy outfitā is this you are getting tangled up with now !! Bewick.