After a ton of reading here, we went and picked up our GX185 on Saturday. The tech at the marina was very helpful and patient with us as we had many questions. Got her back to the camp and spent the rest of saturday reading and turning things on and off, making lists of things to get. Man that day went by fast!
Spent Sunday morning at church, had some lunch, then it was off to Parafunalia for "stuff". Went down the street a few miles and took a look at Ames Farm Inn. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it is a nice, wide, quite spot for the first timer to launch. Get back to camp, put all of the "stuff" away in the boat, do some more reading.
Monday comes. Uncover the boat. Stow everything. Load up a cooler with soda and lunch. Invite the in-laws to join us (they do), take off for Ames Farm. Get to the launch, take off stern straps, check bilge plug, disconnect lights, brief wife and father in-law how I think its supposed to work, hand wife bow line, put daughter and mother in-law in boat (shes a bit skeptical at this point) and back down the ramp. Father in-law lets off winch strap, hmmm, nothing. try to give it a push, nothing. Back in another foot or so, and it slid right off. Parked truck, loaded up, and were off! Man we had a blast. My daughter tried out her new tube (I thought the water was kind of cold) and loved it. In-laws loved just tooling around. Headed down towards Alton bay and back. Back at the dock, getting back on the trailer was pretty easy. Backed the trailer in, walked boat over with bow line, and pulled her up enough so I could hook up winch strap, and cranked it up tight.
Was I nervous launching and recovering? Beyond belief
!! But with the advice of many here, we just took our time and no one got hurt. All in all it went smooth, but there is still a bit of practice needed. Can't wait to get back in the water! Thanks again, Joe