Another thing I like about the flatbed concept is that if you have cradles on there for your boat and you miss the cradles when you are putting the boat on the trailer, you don't have to worry about it being damaged by the metal superstructure of the trailer. If it misses the cradles, it just goes onto a nice soft carpeted flat surface. And there are no sharp metal things for it to get damaged by when you slide it on or off the trailer.