A tarpaulin or portable tarping system for covering loads on flatbed trailers. Said portable tarping system includes retractable tarps of various lengths, for instance, 5 ft., 10 ft., or 20 ft. lengths that are affixed to the cut-outs of the flatbed and then stretched across the load. These tarps can be placed adjacent to each other along the length of the flatbed, or placed on opposing sides of the flatbed, or placed across the width of the flatbed to ensure maximum overlap of the tarps and full coverage of the load.