There are those who would have you believe that there is not so much difference between one custom boat and another, behind the gloss of a well-buffed gelcoat sheen, the glistening white vinyl of a soft and shapely interior, and the severity of the accompanying monthly payment.

Essex Performance Boats has established itself as a custom industry force with perpetual proof to the contrary. Their award-winning line of family custom lake boats (they were the last recipent of our Boat of the Year award before it was discountinued in 1995) has struck a chord among upscale, recreational enthusiasts who are accustomed to quality and exceptional performance and are willing to pay for it.

Essex makes little apology for their standing as one of performance boating's most expensive boat lines . Every Essex is slammed to the gunnels with features rich with progressive thinking and sharpened with labor-intensive techniques designed to make it stand out in a crowd. Essex's customary installation path is straight over the top.

It is against that backdrop that Essex has made its latest launch, a roomy 22-degree vented pad-bottomed vee that's a bit wider, a bit more smoothly sculpted (in the Euro tradition) and a bit faster than either their 21-foot Sterling or their 23-foot Monarch, both of which are expected to survive the Vortex introduction.

And it is against those expectations that Hot Boat's test team was once more smitten, en masse, by this very special builder of custom lake boats. Small wonder that one of our inspection crew labeled his time in the Essex as "like a breath of fresh air," a description that had plenty of company among the accolades heaped on this beautifull family custom.