I guess it depends and I've been through it all. At first, on the truck, I installed it per-use and removed after. This was ok when I had my dad to help me. When I got in the army, and being shoved around bases for the first 2 years, I installed it pretty much for the season and stored it back at my parents at the end. After settling on one spot, and finding a girlfriend, I was back to per-use, but it depends, sometimes it would stay it on for a few weeks or a month at a time, depending on my time to remove it, and if use for the RTT again wasn't far off. The issue also was getting help. The girlfriend wasn't really capable to do it, but the mother-in-law was, but she's like 5ft and I felt bad. I had made a rig with wood to self-install the RTT and used it once, but the trailer project ended up starting later that year. With the trailer, I could finally and officially put it on for the entire season and remove it for the winter since the trailer was stored outside because the winters are bad. This year however, the trailer is stored inside, again thanks to the mother-in-law, so come spring, the tent will of spent an entire year on the trailer