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There's a Better Way Video Tips

A Money-Saving Tip for Protecting Your Truck Bed

Learn about a simple way to keep your truck bed clean without buying an expensive tarp.

By Charles Miller
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      Get a little help from your friends

       

      This is a tip from John Ross of Bethel, Connecticut. John has figured out that if you get to know the guys in the back of the lumberyard, you can get one of the tarps that they use to protect lumber shipments, particularly the trim lumber that they get. These tarps are all rip-stop nylon, and they come 12 feet wide and 16 feet long. They wrap them up at the lumberyard he goes to, and they give them to the locals if they ask the right questions.

      Keep your tarp where you want it

      Once you have your free tarp, spread it out in your truck with enough slack at the sides so that when you start loading debris into it, the tarp doesn’t slide down into the bed. We want to make sure this doesn’t get pulled over when adding debris, so what are we going to do? Well, let me tell you. Every truck has stake holes in the top of the bed so you could put in some sort of extender to hold a larger load. Bring the tarp over, cut wedges that fits into those holes, lay the tarp over, put the wedges in the holes, and that tarp is going to stay put while you put that debris in there.

      Further Resourses

      Getting a grip on a grommetless tarp

      Build a sliding truck-bed drawer for easy access to tools and materials

      A sliding dump bed makes unloading gravel fast and easy

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      1. EGHMS | Mar 15, 2011 07:54pm | #1

        I was able to convince a certain large box store that it would be just a great idea to let me have those things. Today I was presented with a half dozen of the tarps folded neatly with my name on them. Trashed out a job and off I went to the dump. Knotted up the end of the tarp for a good hand hold and out it slid from the van. In and out of the place 20-minutes... very nice.

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      3. markgrogan1 | Jan 14, 2015 10:57pm | #3

        That's a real simple and yet smart solution! And pretty handy since I've got a bunch of tarp in my storage room that might be perfect for my UT now I know what I can do with it!

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