I sheeted & roped my last load in 1979 and spent most of the rest of my working life with container loads and twist-lock trailers. I’m curious to know when sheeting and roping disappeared. Anybody got any idea?
I still do it when pulling a flat for Matlock Transport. I much prefer it to Curtainsiders. Thanks Sam
I still see several wagons a week roped and sheeted so the art is not dead yet
cheers Johnnie
We still do it did it today
Second post i’ve made today on roping and sheeting, one running on the main forum.
Reckon my last full rope and sheet must have been about 1986, chucked the odd rope over stuff in a curtain sider to keep it steady, can’t remember pulling a flat trailer since then.
Thanks to all - I hadn’t seen one on the roads for a long time.
those were the days
i still rope & sheet abnormal loads 2 & from the continant its a fine art & u either can or carnt !! i bet at least 60% of drivers carnt do it now a days or even would go near them !! the rope knot or how 2 fold the sheet
do you mean the dolly ? 
Also known as the Lorry Man’s Knot or Blackwall Hitch and Glasgow Hitch. It is a Hitch Knot and the top part is the Sheepshank with the tail of the rope made into a loop and passed through the bottom loop of the Sheepshank to then go round the hook and pull on.
The Sheepshank got its name from the way it enabled Sheep to be tethered to an individual post, the knot only allowed the Sheep to graze in a circle around the post and any further grazing was allowed by quickly adjusting the knot, however it was later used as a shortening knot to take slack up on a line or if the rope had become worn in an area the knot at top and bottom took the strain instead of the worn part. Cheers Franky.
Jakey Adams lads still do ropes & sheets, on Paper & steel, Quite a common site, & I must say they have the best drivers for taking pride in their job, roping & sheeting, & every driver keeps his own gear which is plain to see when you look at their motors, Regards Larry
good old days specaily in winter and force ten gale . old hemp froze up . sheets as stiff as boards .
Aye remember in the 50s working with a driver who used to put double turns in his hitches, He was a cac handed sort of a bloke, in fact he was a real nugget as they would have said in thoes days, & in the winter he had to admit that they were very difficult to loosen, So thats when I came in & mind you I was just a boy to him in those days, But I had a rope spanner, ■■?, yes the good old pocket knife, sharp & readey for use, & I still have one in my pocket to-day, Regards Larry.
Its called tarping here in Canada/USA but I still do it most days, I would find it easier with proper ropes & sheets though, these rubber bungee things we use are a PITA at times…
fly sheet:
Its called tarping here in Canada/USA but I still do it most days, I would find it easier with proper ropes & sheets though, these rubber bungee things we use are a PITA at times…
PITA would that translate to D–K 
I can well remember pulling the sheets off loads of apples in Covent Garden, only to have the sheets stand up in the road like a shed! Frozen stiff, it took quite a time trying to pile them into a temporary heap so that I could get out of there.
GAZ70:
do you mean the dolly ?
the dolly yes ha ha i remember tryin to learn & remember that knot seems so easy now think some drivers did a differant vesion of it how many differant types are there used today ■■ 
Retired Old ■■■■:
I can well remember pulling the sheets off loads of apples in Covent Garden, only to have the sheets stand up in the road like a shed! Frozen stiff, it took quite a time trying to pile them into a temporary heap so that I could get out of there.
I can remember pulling frozen sheets off in Covent Garden too, but the worst part was when they froze after rain or snow, and when you pulled them off big lumps of ice fell on you from the frozen puddles!
Bernard
Good old days …you got to be kidding!!! Frozen sheets, gale force winds, triple sheeting high loads(without gantries or ladders or friendly forklift drivers to lift sheets up), ■■■■■■■ rain…what fun…remember it well.Remember pulling sheet off at Birmingham fruit market in the early early hours, nobody around, sheet tie broke…splat head on concrete, don’t know how long I was out but had a fair old headache. Good old days !!!
gwynedd shipping still sending plenty of neatly roped and covered loads over er 