Honest opinion

[St.Croix]

I keep Reading about and watching videos of all of the different tin rigs out there. The 2 that I look at most are the Xpress H series and the Triton TX series. So far, what I like about the Xpress is that it has that hyper lift Hull. What I like about the Triton is the huge front deck space that seems to better thought out than the Xpress H18. Lately, I’ve had my eyes on the G3 boats but they seem to have very little dry storage and the trailer looks cheap. At this moment, I’m still fishing out of my 15’ polar craft, which has never had any cracked welds, and even the paint didn’t start to chip until after 7yrs of use. I fish a lot, 3 to 4 times a week. But I would love to have a bigger boat with lots of storage and more deck space. In your honest opinion, which boat would be best.

P.S. I fish a lot of shallow stumpy lakes.

[n2ratfishin]

Why not another Polar Kraft?

Of the two listed the Express.

[Jfish]

Why not another Polar Kraft?

Of the two listed the Express.

+1

[St.Croix]

Why not another Polar Kraft?

Of the two listed the Express.

Local dealers don’t sell Polar Craft.

[Smallie_Hawgin]

Of the two listed Xpress for sure... Not sure if you have checked out SeaArk? Been using one for work and have been impressed with the workmanship for sure.. https://www.seaarkboats.com/life-categories

[FloridaFlyer]

Of the two choices, I would DEFINITELY pick the Xpress....hands down.....especially since Bass Pro bought Triton. Really, I am not even sure they are still making the Triton aluminums. If they are still manufacturing the name brand I bet it won't be around long. When Ranger built the Triton brand, I liked it a lot.....not now so much.

I want to add this....just go look at a Vexus. Just go see one and the differences... If you have to drive a bit, just do it. I also would not worry about a close by dealer even on the PolarKraft... Not much happens to the boat...they will send you a part of you need it... The motor service is the important thing... Just go look at the Vexus before you buy.

[PolarKraft195]

Local dealers don’t sell Polar Craft.

Seems nobody south handles the Polar Kraft line, except their saltwater boats. Kinda good for me though. I traveled from Ohio to buy my Polar Kraft 195TX off of a dealer in Florida, that was clearencing their bassboat line. I met the dealer at my brother's in Savanah Ga. Nearest Polar Kraft dealer is about 1-1/2 hours from me. I bought mine in February of 2018, it was a new leftover 2017. I saved around $10,000 off compared to a new 2018 model!

[Bill Reynolds]

Of the two choices, I would pick the Express, for these reasons:
1) The hyper lift hull may be easier to fish around the stumps. Hopefully it will roll off the stumps like a glass boat because of the pad hull. The Triton is the same hull as my RT188 and there are stumpy places I used to fish in my BassCat that I can’t fish with the RT.
2) if they still make the Triton, it will be on a tube trailer instead of the Ranger C channel so you will not be impressed with the Triton trailer. All the Express trailers I have seen are aluminum and very well built. I think you would be happy with them.
3) the Ranger/Triton hulls have a significant history of cracks both in the substrate and around welds and many believe it is because they use .100 aluminum for the hull material. I have also read several post on the Vexus forum about the same issue. I know that Express uses .125 aluminum on the 19 ft. Boats but don’t know about the 18 ft. Ones. Would be worth checking.
As you can see in my signature, I currently own an RT188 and I don’t mean to bash them, on balance it works ok for me but may not be for everyone.

[2dwoods]

For stumps, gatortraxx

[fishingram24]

Xpress would be my choice but then I am in my 3rd one, a 2021 X 18 with 150 Yamaha. The hyper lift hull was designed as a stump release hull and I promise you they do work, just roll right off. Xpress has a thicker hull(.125) than all but Gatortrax(.190) but I could not afford one of those. Many great aluminum boats built today and it comes down to price and personal preference in what you want a boat to do. One more plus for Xpress is Sea Dek, absolutely love it in my boat. No slip, easy on my back and knees, hooks don't hang up like carpet and clean up is a breeze. If I ever buy another boat it will have sea dek for sure.

[Jeff Hahn]

In addition to comparing the boats, also compare the trailers. I would never own any boat that came with a tube trailer.

[maxo]

Express is a great boat but look at the Vexus forum under the thread new vexus 181. It looks like exactly the boat you want.