>What is the reasoning behind crossing the tiedown straps? What does
>this do that having the straps straight doesn't
Sid hit on the gist of it -- crossing the straps puts a lateral "fix" on
the car in addition to the fore-aft fix that running the straps straight
would give you. If you're running very short straps, there's less of a
benefit to crossing them (IMO) because the short straps will somewhat
restrict lateral movement, but it's still possible to get some side-side
movement.
Incidentally, there's also a reason why having the anchors on the trailer
be somewhat fore and aft of the car being tied down is a Good Thing -- if
the anchors are directly below the tiedown points on the trailer, you don't
get the fore-aft "fixing" you'd get if the straps stretch out a ways.
You're basically relying on the tension of the straps themselves to keep
the car from moving around, so you want to vector that tensile force in the
most desirable way. One way is to do separate fore-aft and side-side
straps. Another way that doesn't require twice the number of straps would
be to cross the straps so the diagonal pull gives you both fore-aft and
side-side components.
Jim Crider
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