Use HomeBrew to install fuse4x and sshfs
The commands to install are:
brew install sshfs
when you run it, it gives two other commands that I needed to run in order to install the fuse4x kernel extension. Run them.
Then, to mount the ssh filesystem
mkdir ~/mymountdir
sshfs username@hostname:/home/thedir ~/mymountdir
it will ask you for your password.
I think I can get you started, but using terminal commands, which you said you'd prefer to avoid. Apologies, but it might give you a starting point. All of the following you could put in a bash script and run as a login item.
You'll need to first share out the target drive(s) (MyBook in the examples below) using file sharing (System Preferences > Sharing > check the File Sharing box, add the drives you need and set appropriate permissions - I just use Everyone to keep it simple).
You can mount a remote machine and/or its associated drives using mount like so:
Make a directory as the mount point (obviously call test whatever you want):
mkdir /Volumes/test
Now mount the remote drive. I'm assuming this is already connected to your iMac and appears when you connect to your iMac using Finder:
mount -t afp afp://<your mac's name>/<drive name to mount> /Volumes/test
On my remote Mac Mini, to connect to my MyBook attached to it via USB, that would be:
mount -t afp afp://bobs-mac-mini/MyBook /Volumes/test
If you need to authenticate (I got error -5000 when trying to mount my home folder), you can also do this using
mount -t afp afp://<username>:<password>@<your mac's name>/<drive name to mount> /Volumes/test
However, the password would unfortunately have to be in the clear. So again, this might be:
mount -t afp afp://binarybob:password123@bobs-mac-mini/MyBook /Volumes/test
You can also connect to your home folder using the above method, just by replacing MyBook with the name of your home folder.
The drive you mounted should now appear in the finder and you should be able to use it like any other locally mounted drive. When you're finished, you can do:
umount /Volumes/test
to remove it. BTW, if you're not an administrator, you might need to add sudo in front of each command and type an administrator password.
Best Answer
I build automator workflows like this all the time. You only need two actions, and they're both Files & Folders actions.
1) Get Specified Servers. This will let you build a list of shares to connect to. If you can map it from Finder -> Go -> Connect to server, you can use this.
2) Connect to Servers. This will connect to any servers passed to it (either from get specified servers or from ask for servers).