Tested by Capt. Bob Smith

I have been after Triton for some time now because I knew there was a lot of interest in test results on their fishing boats.

New Features

I had alsoread about their award winning design for reboarding without help and was anxious to see it before launching the Tr-21X. Although I have been in the water during a test, I wasn’t interested in proving how this device worked. Staying dry and warm was important to me. Stating that although more anglers now wear a life jacket and can stay afloat after falling overboard while fishing, it is a difficult task to get back on board a bass rig without help, often resulting in more injuries from hitting the prop, slipping off the outboard or overstressing themselves and others trying to help a fallen fisherman.

The National Safe Boating Council gave Triton a Special Life Saving Award for the innovation which is a folding ladder that slips out of a slot on the stern and the steps fold out so you can easily hoist yourself back aboard. Simple idea that will save lives!

Construction

Triton boasts wood free construction and lots of foam filled areas within their boats for better floatation and hull noise dampening. All this allows Triton to offer a lifetime warranty on their hulls. The X-series of boats has added more room up front for the larger trolling motors used today, and they have extended the forward casting deck to become “the roomiest front deck in bass boating.” A full seven inches has been added at the seat pedestal mounting width and the front deck is now 90 inches long.

Layout

Underneath the forward casting deck I found plenty of room for rods in the rod lockers and gear lockers for lures and supplies. The 24-volt trolling motor has a recessed foot pedal control for a cleaner deck and pop up cleats keep the sides clear while working a fish around the deck. The buddy console and seat has an area for keeping your rods tucked away from hole to hole called a rod ramp. When your buddy needs a little more security in choppy water, there is also a grab handle underneath the seat. Both seats were very comfortable. The padded dash had full instrumentation and a nice wind deflecting screen.

The back casting deck is also large enough to be comfortable working the big fish aboard with storage and access lockers as well as a removable divider for its livewell.

Specs

This Triton Tr-21X was 21’0” in length and a beamy 94” wide. She sports a hull weight of 1,750 lbs before adding gear and the motor. Speaking of engines, she is rated for up to 250 hp. Our test boat sported a Mercury 225 Optimax that had her screaming across the lake just fine. She can hold about 56 gallons of fuel for a full day of fishing or hanging out on the water. Her livewell capacity is 43 gallons with a baitwell capacity of 21 gallons.

Performance and Handling

We tested in choppy conditions with a front coming through on a fresh water lake. She handled the chop well and stayed glued to the water, even with a helicopter flying alongside at very low altitude producing a lot of cross winds. She seemed to have more bow rise out of the hole than I was expecting, but that could be due to the way she was loaded. I felt a little cramped at the wheel with a float coat on, but you want the space out on the casting decks where you spend most of your time, not at the wheel.

There was plenty of room to operate the boat safely behind the wheel. We found best cruise to be around 3000 rpms which equaled about 29.3 miles per hour. At this speed, she burns 6.1 gallons per hour and gives a range of 242 miles of fishing and fun between fill ups. We registered a top end at 5700 rpms of 67.9 miles per hour. At this speed we were burning 22.6 gallons per hour and producing a range of 151 miles on a full tank. Keep in mind that we had this boat loaded with fuel and all the fishing gear a professional fisherman carries for a tournament. Sound levels were good for an outboard motor driven boat. Idle levels were at 64 dBa, cruise produced 88 dBa and top end 94 dBa at the helm.

If fishing tournaments or fishing in tournament style with a keen eye for safety and quality are important to your fishing future, Triton’s Tr-21X is one of the boats you need to be checking out.

• Top speed for the Triton Tr-21X DC is 67.9 mph (109.3 kph), burning 22.60 gallons per hour (gph) or 85.54 liters per hour (lph).


• Best cruise for the Triton Tr-21X DC is 29.3 mph (47.2 kph), and the boat gets 4.80 miles per gallon (mpg) or 2.04 kilometers per liter (kpl), giving the boat a cruising range of 242 miles (389.46 kilometers).


• Tested power is 1 x 225-hp Mercury Optimax.


• Time to plane for the Triton Tr-21X DC is 6.7 sec. seconds.


• Time from 0 to 30 of the Triton Tr-21X DC is 8.9 sec. seconds.