1. Never put steal on steal. Meaning, Don't set a boat trailer on your cross bars with out wood in between. Don't only use carpet. Carpet will let things slid and will wear through. That means you will be back to steal on steal.

2. Never let a strap near a boat. If it is not at least 1 inch away from any part of the boat. Put carpet under the strap. The strap will flutter in the wind and damage the boat. Either the gel coat or mare and leave marks on it.

3. As listed in one. Never use only carpet in between steal. And never only carpet under the boat. Use plywood or other wood. You can even use rubber mats. Be sure to add the carpet on them. Those will squash down a little and help stop the load from moving.

4. Don't think the load is back there it will be fine. Always check the load over. Make sure it did not move. Check your straps. If you have a lose strap that means the load settled or moved. Being on wood. The weight of the boat can squash the wood down and make your straps lose. If the strap is lose then we are back to number 2. On top of that the carpet in between the strap and load may fall out. If the carpet falls out you will really have some damages.

5. Screw pads - Never have a lot of screw at the top of the sleeves. You want the minimal amount of screw sticking up. If you have a lot of screw. Then lift your upright up another hole. What that will do is put a lot of strain on the sleeve weld. It can and might bend the screw or even break the weld.

6. Never use just a pin holding your upright in the pocket. A lot of drivers do this. Try not to. What that does is damage the pocket. It leaves those dibits in the steal. If those get deep. They can stop you from using that pocket because the upright will not go down in the pocket any more. Use a cross bar cup. You can get your upright a little higher that way too.