Formica topped kitchen worktops out of Kronospan Chirk are like sheets of lubricated ice. Does anyone have any tips for securing them. I have been told to tighten the ratchets using a bar for extra leverage, but I recall reading a post by someone who had his face taken off when the ratchet exploded. The worst worst was a load of sheepskins from the big abattoir on Angelsey to Birkenhead (Strong and Fisher?). Flagged down for a roadside check, the officer said, “You seem to be leaking. Let’s have a look” He went to climb under but shot back out when confronted by a steady stream of blood, pee and lumpy bits. “Ahem…er…on yer way, driver”
If the Formica is in packs of 3 chuck a strap (or 2 if you feel safer) over packs 1&2, then a couple over the top, and use a bit of wood for extra leverage( obviously with corner protecters) I have never had a ratchet explode doing that, 
but there you go.
I once came over from Holland on a particularly rough crossing with that stuff on, high single packs from floor to roof, and it had moved while on the ferry, so you are right it can be dodgy and awkward to keep straight, especially if not banded by the factory.
Coventry Hide and Bone or something like
did a short run to Bromsgrove got back asked
what was next and boss said home your as white
as a sheet.
He said he had had important stuff to
do in the morning and my run was worth a days pay to him
i used to do that place in chirk taking loads to the docks in birkenhead we had to do 3 of them in a 12 hour shift and use at least 15 straps on each load, it was one of the worse jobs i ever had as it normally pours down with rain when in chirk strapping up and you had to climb all over the loads to thread the straps over them, the curtains would be blowing a gale as well
the best way i found to do that job was to find a better job, but then we was pushed to do 3 loads a night, if they had taken 1 of the loads off us it wouldnt of been such a bad job, when at the docks you had to go hunting in all the empty trailers on the dock for straps and sometimes you would be there for an hour looking
i wonder if your working for maxi ?
Euro:
Formica topped kitchen worktops out of Kronospan Chirk are like sheets of lubricated ice. Does anyone have any tips for securing them. I have been told to tighten the ratchets using a bar for extra leverage, but I recall reading a post by someone who had his face taken off when the ratchet exploded.
We do tons of the stuff. And yes they’re as bad as you say. We’ve been instructed that if we can’t park the trailers where they need to be we need to leave a couple of straps on each pack for the shunters so they can move them around site safely.
OK, how we do it as instructed at our place where they’ve been moving them for 30+ years. Say you’ve a stack with 3 packs high. You load 2 packs high and put 2 straps over those two packs. You then put the third layer on and put 3 straps over the whole lot. If the packs are of different thickness you don’t want the thin ones at the bottom. Do not put the straps on the chassis, instead run them to the chock rail on the side of the trailer. It minimises sideways movement.
Do not use a bar to tighten a ratchet. It’ll bugger it and when you come to crack it off you’ll get metal flying in your face. As well as that you overtighten the strap and it could cause it to fail. The Scottish guys we do trailer swaps with used to tighten ratchets with a bar and we just used to make them undo them and put our own ratchets on the load. Our straps have tension gauges on which are nothing more than a bit of U shaped plastic that fits in the web loop on the ratchet which you hook onto the wagon. When you’ve tensioned it enough both sides of the U shaped plastic touch together. Simplest idea ever and can be fitted to any ratchet.
