Lightweight Tarps Made Out Of Auto Air Bag material

Lightweight Tarps Made Out Of Auto Air Bag material FARM HOME Cars 28-3-19 due to unexpected rain are forced to take a break and relax. Craig Vogeler went looking for a pallet tarp that he could pull out when needed. He couldn't find anything that would work so he started thinking about how to make one. "It took 2 1/2 years to work out the design and get a patent," recalls Vogeler. The former truck driver is now busy overseeing production and marketing of his weatherproof tarps. With their trademark ratchet and "D" ring strap design, Vogeler's tarps are used to cover seed corn pallets, balers, drills and planters. Vogeler is also making grass bags for lawn mowers, rally flags for high schools and ponchos - all from making larger covers. Pallet tarps sell for $125, while baler covers run $400. Ponchos can be had for $30. It is the straps with ratchet and ring tie- downs that set these tarps apart from the competition. Two straps come over the top and connect with a third strap that goes around the top third of whatever is being covered. Double D-rings at the front where the three straps meet cinch up all four sides, while a ratchet strap pulls the tarp in tight at the bottom. "The strap configuration over the top and part way down means that even if a pallet is two thirds empty, the tarp won't blow off", Vogeler explains. "Because the bottom is open, there is always enough air movement that condensation doesn't build up inside the tarp." Vogeler says local farmers are after him to build tarps to fit over combine grain bins. Last fall many were caught by surprise when unexpected rain soaked grain left in their combine bins over night. Freezing temperatures that followed froze everything tight and combines had to be driven into heated sheds to thaw out. Vogeler's new tarps are made from the same lightweight but tough fabric used for airbags in cars. He silk screens logos and designs on them. "The fabric is so durable that if you put a hole in it, you would need two cars hooked onto it to tear it apart," says Vogeler. "It's so lightweight that they fit into a little storage sack we provide. You don't have to fold it up; just stuff it in." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Vogeler Enterprises, RR 1, Box 125, North Loup, Neb. 68859 (ph 308 496-3417; email: cvogeler@nctc.net; website: pallettarp.net).

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