The Buddy Davis 45 Express is an honest, hardworking sportfisherman with the quick, agile moves of a cow pony.

A couple of years ago, at the end of a business conference with a dude-ranch them, I spent a dusty afternoon in Arizona herding cattle. Except for having a hard time "sitting a saddle" the next day flying home to Florida, the experience was excellent and extra-enjoyable on one count: The young cutting horse I rode for the afternoon was so smart, fast, and flat-out fun to handle that I hated to see the whole extravaganza end. I could have just kept on ridin', I guess. Next stop: Mexico.

Funny how things work out. Although at the time it seemed highly unlikely I'd ever get to enjoy an adventure like that again, a recent test drive of a prototype Buddy Davis 45 Express turned out to be a virtual dead-ringer. I may have been herding white-caps in the Gulf Stream near Islamorada rather than steers in the desert, but the speed, panache, and rollicking good fun of the ride was exactly the same. Not only did the Carolina-flared Express track bullet-straight and bone-dry through head, side, and following seas at planing speeds (including a respectable top end of 36.5 mph), but she also evinced slow-tempo handling characteristics verging on ballet, rodeo-style.

Backing down on a fish, for instance. To simulate the fast moves a major-league hook-up sometimes calls for, I centered the Express's rudders, slammed my butt against the wheel for moral support, filled each palm with a polished-stainless single-lever engine control and "just got awwwwnnnn with it," as we say in the South. The head-snapping agility of the Express in reverse blew my mind. In fact, according to the Northstar 952XD color display on the dashboard, I had the boat backing down at a mindboggling rate of 6 knots at one point, with nary a drop of solid water coming over the transom, hardly any squat, and the Ritchie compass spinning all over the place - north, south, east, and west - thanks to one outrageous S-curve after another. Yeeeeehawwww!

There are reasons for all this, of course. Topping the list is the precise placement of the longitudinal center of gravity (LCG), a job Davis subcontracted to Virginia-based naval architect and marine engineer Don Blount. An LCG that's positioned to perfectly relate to lifting forces at planing speeds engenders good balance, says Blount, and good balance helps prevent bow steering, enhances tracking, and imparts cornering poise and mannerliness. Another important factor is the savvy design and placement of the boat's running gear, a realm of engineering that covers everything from determining the shape and location of rudders to choosing the number of blades on props. The years of experience and boatbuilding acumen that Davis brings to this arena contribute to the lithe quickness of the Express and also helps preclude handling problems like inordinate speed losses and the tendency to stall or hop sideways in high-speed turns.

The final factor is the helm itself. Situated on a bridge deck just high enough to guarantee sit-down visibility throughout the planing process and just low enough to maintain the tumblehome beauty of the boat's profile, it's a winner. While driving the Express, I found the top-of-the-line Murray Products Paragon helm chair to be solid, comfortable, not too high off the deck, and strategically located vis-à-vis the Cruisair air-conditioning vents. Visibility aft for a piscatorial tussle was unobstructed except for the skinny blind spots created by the back legs of the optional Pipewelders tuna tower. The action of the single-lever sticks, connected to Study Corp. electronics, was smooth and responsive, as was the movement of the polished stainless steel Release wheel, thanks to Hynautic hydraulics and engine-driven power-assist. A dashboard cowling protected the electronics and DDC Electronic Display Modules from saltwater without making them difficult to access or see.

After a long, lovely Gulf Stream romp, which I periodically fantasized about stretching into an overnight stay at the Bimini Big Game Fishing Club, complete with two plates of conch fritters from the Gulf Stream Restaurant, I headed the Express back to Islamorada to check out her fish-fighting arsenal dockside. Its overall beefy nature was what impressed me most. The hatch over the 15-cubic-foot fishbox in the cockpit sole looked tough enough to withstand a direct hit from a sledgehammer, the transom scuppers were giant, and the fiberglass console boxes on either side of the engine-room companionway (top-loading freezer and sink to port, circular baitwell and Cruisair refrigerator to starboard) resounded with a steely thunk when I struck them with my fist. Not surprising, I guess, in a solidly built, 17-ton vessel with an all-glass bottom, Divinycell-cored hull sides, Nidacore-cored decks and bulkheads, and a hull-to-deck joint that's screwed, epoxied, and fiberglassed.

A number of engine room specifics also impressed me. Not one, but both mains had Y-valves on their seawater-suction systems - obviously, the folks at Buddy Davis think two giant emergency bilge pumps are better than one (or none) and I totally agree. Also, instead of a bunch of heavy, conventional 8D batteries powering a 12-volt D.C. system, there were four gel batteries grouped into two, efficiency-boosting 24-volt banks, each maintained in constant readiness via an automatic, 24-volt, 50-amp Sentry charger and 80-amp Vanner Voltmaster equalizer. (Gel batteries are lighter than most 8Ds and require no maintenance.) And finally, Sea Pro 511 fuel-water separators were conveniently bulkhead-installed with electric priming pumps and duplex capability - apparently Davis feels being able to change mucked-up separator elements underway is just as useful as avoiding air locks during fuel-filter changes.

It gets hot in Islamorada, so I wound up my test of the Express by retiring to the cherry-joinered interior, with its cool 26,000 BTUs of Cruisair air-conditioning. Our layout was the more open of the two available, with a stateroom forward, a port-side galley aft (opposite a dinette table and L-shape UltraLeather lounge), and a saloon amidships with an enclosed head to starboard and a sofa/pullman berth arrangement to port. What sets this arrangement apart from the other is the lack of a bulkhead, which turns the sofa/pullman area into a second stateroom with stacked bunks and a hanging locker. At any rate, the joinery looked pretty good, considering out test boat was a prototype, and componentry was top-shelf, with a Sub-Zero drawer-type refrigerator in the galley, VacuFlush MSD in the head, and Grohe fixtures and Corian countertops in both spaces.

Once I'd finished checking all this stuff out, I eased on back to the dinette lounge, took a seat behind the table there, and with due appreciation for stalwart engineering and beefy sportfishing equipment, fell to wantonly reminiscing about the fun I'd had during the test drive.

No doubt about it. The Buddy Davis 45 Express is a sturdy, comfortable, no-nonsense fishing machine. But out where the blue rollers roll, she's also as smart, fast, and flat-out fun to handle as a cowpoke's best friend.

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