Recently purchased my first dugout, it's a Sunova flatwater faast pro 14 x 22... I was advised to carry on the roof racks bottom down.... is this the best way to carry on the roof. I've always carried my boards deck down....cheers

It can be. It depends on the board. The upper rails on many dugouts are vulnerable to damage from the roof rack. But also some dugouts can have very thin and fragile bottoms, which are also vulnerable if you strap your board down too tight or don't have enough padding on your roof rack.
Transporting dugouts is generally a PITA whichever way up you do it. Use plenty of padding, wide straps, and don't pull them too tight. And check the details of the construction of your board to see how much material there is in the rails vs. the bottom. If it's just one layer of fibreglass/carbon all round and nothing else then maybe carry bottom down using wide roof rack pads and preferably place some padding between the straps and the rails also.
Some dugouts can get a bit noisy on a roofrack too.
Speed always comes at a price...

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Area10 said..
Use plenty of padding

I guess you should take the time to get some dense packing foam, and cut them to fit both your dugout edges and bottom contour. As Area10 said, the board will probably be quite fragile everywhere, top and bottom.

People tend to think that cranking on the pressure on straps is a good thing, slightly tightened is better.

Just don't do the straps too tight Loz79.
I use lockrack except you can't carry more than two board.

Thanks guys I've been using kayak mounts, carrying it in a bag and Deck up so hopefully should all be ok, was a bit daunting loading it for the first time being my first dugout??...

I carry my GT bottom down all the time, i found it the best way by far. I'm lucky in that my racks are fairly far apart so i always make sure that one of the racks is under the area of the board just in front of the dugout - this are is pretty strong.

I use some good padding on the roof racks themselves - either pool noodles or Rhino Rack ones - and then make sure you use some wide straps that are not too tight - i prefer the Sea 2 Summit ones, you can get them in places like Anaconda etc...

In some cases i've also used firm blocks of foam, yoga blocks, which i put in the dug out over the area with the roof rack under it - just make sure they are deeper than the dugout. This has two advantages, 1) it transfers a load of tension from the straps through the dugout taking some strain off the rails, and 2) because they stick up above the rails you can easily stack boards! I use two blocks in the dugout and a cheap foam stadium seat on the deck area at the front - easy!

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gregc said..
People tend to think that cranking on the pressure on straps is a good thing, slightly tightened is better.

Exactly, they only have to be just firm, no need to crank them down hard at all.
I have pool noodles sliced down the centre and taped to my racks, may look ugly but if it saves any damage that is the main thing.
I carry dugouts all of the time and IMO it doesn't make much difference if the board is deck up or down as long as the straps are reasonably wide and not too tight.
Be careful if you use Kanulocks with the stainless steel wire in them as they can mark or damage rails fairly easy, I still use them often but again just not too tight or with packing under the pressure points.