agree with Nick, side stand is a definite boon, and yes the centre stand is also very good and very useful, but mine got bent when the bastards on the Santander ferry tightened the cargo strap holding it to the deck, beyond where I had stopped them while in attendance, once departed they must have clicked it on few steps, and bent it, so the lean angle is too much, mine came from a ZZR600 and is tubular steel, suitable modified with an extension to get the right angle, now it needs warming and straightening. Why cant the bastards leave well alone, especially as they take no responsibility for the bike falling, its up to the rider to use the kit provided, with assistance if asked for, but no liability is taken, this applies to most, if not all ferries that I come across, what is different about the Portsmouth/Santander service is that the "fixing" on the deck floor is a horizontal wire rope cable, that is pinned down about every 5 metres, the possibility is that tightening or loosening a bike fixing can affect all the rest, most ferries use a pair of dedicated fixing eyes on the floor either side of each individual bike, this means that what you do to your bike does not influence anybody else's, never totally satisfactory on any ferry and always a dodgy thing even if only slightly, you can see why a lot of people go to these events using trailers and vans when classic bikes are involved.
CLEM