Still moving, and things are crazier than even I could have imagined.
While I would have paid professional movers, the only company I fould find in the area with high recommendations was booked up for the entire period, so I decided to go with YouPack.com. For less than a third of what a regular moving outfit charges, they’ll drop off a large (28′) trailer, and as the name says, you pack it.
Easier said than done.
Anyway, I don’t have time to prattle on , but yesterday a friend who used to work as a mover showed me an ingenious way of tying things down, which is so simple and so strong that I wondered how I ever got along without it.
It’s known colloquially as the Trucker’s Hitch, and because I had a little trouble remembering what my friend showed me, I was forced to resort to Google.
I found a diagram online, and I am presenting it as a public service:
“Once you learn it, you wonder how you got along without it.”
That would be a nice ad slogan. The trouble is, there’s no money to be made in ideas, especially if they’re tied up in knots.
Another day, another hitch
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6 responses to “Another day, another hitch”
Eric,
We moved cross-country using ABF U-Pack a year ago. ABF was a pleasure to work with, but the packing and loading got really old. Nothing was broken, but we did have some things that had finishes rubbed off from the trailer vibrating things against each other. Wrap carefully!
Eric,
We moved cross-country using ABF U-Pack a year ago. ABF was a pleasure to work with, but the packing and loading got really old. Nothing was broken, but we did have some things that had finishes rubbed off from the trailer vibrating furniture, etc. against each other. Wrap carefully!
I learned that one from my father. Who is a trucker. Who used it for tying down loads.
There are several ways to tie a cinch like this, but the slippery half hitch shown in the illustration will jam tight under high tension and resist untying. When I was a newbie OTR driver thirty years ago I learned from an old “bedbug hauler” to tie it with a artillery or man-harness knot (http://tinyurl.com/5rkwkz) that doesn’t jam. In the picture the loop would be pulled to the upper right.
Yes it’s useful. You can also double up the loops to get some pully action to help tighten it. But be careful, the truckers hitch significantly reduces the strength of the rope. (50% or more)
Commisserations on the move. I always find moving horribly traumatic.
I was a Boy Scout, but have forgotten everything but a simple slipknot. I’ll have to keep this in mind, though I can’t see where I’d have any use for it outside of light bondage.