We didn't sink, get stranded nor even break anything, so a smashing success, I'd say! A glorious sunny day, mid to upper 60's F, light breeze and not a clould in the sky. Perfect day for our maiden voyage! Had to tow the boat over to Salem, MA as a 1345 low tide made the local ramps unuseable. After not having the $5 USD ramp fee, my wife and 5 year old smiled and we were waved on
And the gent collecting the fee liked our boat
My first ever ramp launching was entirely uneventful. However, once the car and trailer were parked, we had a bit of trouble getting the old 80 Merc 4 cylinder to fire. Just as I was about to go begging for a spark plug wrench, it fired up and idled smoothly, yet a bit fast. After a few restarts to be sure it would be okay, we shoved off, idled out of the harbor and throttled up. With the Smart Tabs fitted, the boat just lifted right up onto a plane, with no bow rise to speak of. Neat!
We scooted around the point into Marblehead harbor, watched some sailboat Team Racing, and the motor died when I shifted into neutral
With dozens of spectators on the porch of the host Yacht Club
Got it restarted, and learned that I must not have the throttle cable properly adjusted, as it would stall as I throttle back from the higher neutral throttle required to restart... We escaped with our dignity without resorting to the oars, nor needing assitance. Idled back out of Marblehead, and throttled up again to head across Salem Sound to Beverly harbor. Found the mooring bouy for my sailboat, waved to some folks at the porch of our Yacht Club, and headed back to Salem, with my wife at the helm.
She docked the boat, and we had an uneventful retreival, despite the growth and steepness of the ramp. The '97 Saab turbo convertible with the limited slip differential did the job quite nicely, despite the fact that every other trailer in the park was hitched to an SUV or pickup truck
Wife Maureen and 5 year old daughter Dana thoroughly enjoyed themselves, as did I!
I have a bit of tweaking to do: adjust the throttle cables, adjust the trim tabs to allow a touch more bow up, figure out why the tachometer isn't working, replace the trim switch for the motor. The only bad news was that we used at least 4 gallons of fuel for 2 hours on the water
Here are a couple of pics:
(Sorry, no action shots yet!)
Although having just returned from a UK trip I have to agree with codprawn ,that we are getting off easy over here. 
The People's Republic of Massachusetts has moer than enough fruits and nuts for me! 
