Thanks for the replies.
JJJ, wow less than 10 mins... something to aim to. Great idea with white out, must try it.
Barry my feeling was it's better to remove the lot and interesting on going over the supplied weights. I have been trying to work max payload out and it depends on who to believe! I think the Skywatcher rates the HEQ5pro at 17 kg
which is way over to me. Iv'e had 12 kgs on mine and it is ok just for visual, but I wouldn't want to have that on the mount all the time.
Justin I presume yours is on a pier??? Does that have any affect on payload.. I would guess not much, if at all. I'm thinking of making a wooden tripod for use with my 6" refractor, but a pier would be much better.
Matt