Looking at buying a boat finally, down to 2 choices and looking for others thoughts on them. Either a Ranger RT188 or Triton 18tx. Online research seems to make them appear almost identical, what are the real differences between the two?

Dealer choice won't play a part, the closest for each (which is not close) is the same dealer.....

From what I gather they are essentially the same boat minus the pultruded console and the trailer

Pultruded?  Did you say pultruded? 

I've got to look it up to see what it means.  Sounds serious.

It is serious.

Pultrusion

Pultrusion is a continuous process for manufacture of composite materials with constant cross-section. The term is a portmanteau word, combining "pull" and "extrusion". As opposed to extrusion, which pushes the material, pultrusion works by pulling the material.

 

Now I've got to look up portmanteau.

 

Portmanteau

A portmanteau or portmanteau word is a linguistic blend of words, in which parts of multiple words, or their phones (sounds), and their meanings are combined into a new word. Originally, the word "portmanteau" refers to a suitcase that opens into two equal sections.

 

See what you started.