Personally, I leave everything setup & ready to go in a moment. I have 185# of counterweight on my scope. If I was to remove it at the end of the night, then I would have to either remove the OTA or prop it up someway. I have had my Observatory up & going for three years now, & I have not seen anything to be detrimental to my mount.

There are times that I have an 8" scope piggybacked. That requires another 50# of counterweight. I leave that all setup also.