About EPCO Products

EPCO Products, Inc. has been serving the marine industry since we patented the bow eye more than 40 years ago. We proudly operate as the only US manufacturer of stainless steel bow eyes, stern eyes and more for the recreational boating industry.

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Made in the USA

We’ve manufactured stainless steel bow eyes in our Fort Wayne, Indiana facility long before they were patented in 1971. Over the decades, our product lineup has grown to include stern and mooring eyes (Patented in 1980), lifting eyes and assemblies (Patented in 1980), and pontoon test plugs and couplers—all proudly made in the USA.

We’re extremely proud of that because the standard of living for every American depends on a strong US manufacturing base. As of January 2020, the US recreational boating industry has an annual economic value of about $400 billion. The industry supports more than 691,000 American jobs and 35,200 businesses, driving $47 billion in annual consumer spending.

That’s why have we continued to manufacture our products at our Fort Wayne facility—because we’re committed to our community, and we promised our customers we’d continue to provide American-made products.

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ISO 9001:2015 Registration

EPCO is an ISO 9001:2015 Registered Quality System company, assessed and approved by National Quality Assurance, USA.

View ISO Certificate

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Our History

At EPCO, we’ve called Fort Wayne, Indiana home since 1980, when we purchased Gilbaum Manufacturing, the patent holder for the bow eye and lifting assembly designs. SInce then, our product lineup has grown to include stern and mooring eyes, lifting eyes and assemblies, and pontoon test plugs and couplers—all proudly made in the USA.

Now, we’re the world’s largest single manufacturer of stainless steel bow and stern eyes for recreational boats. We specialize in manufacturing more than 800 different bow and stern eyes, as well as custom products—all made to the exacting dimensions designed by our customers.

bow eye patent
EPCO facility
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Our Facility

EPCO employees work in a 25,000-square-foot, smoke-free and completely air-conditioned manufacturing facility. Our manufacturing processes include thread rolling, turret lathe, screw machine, milling, drilling, assembly, CNC, thread cutting, tapping, stainless steel marking equipment, automatic and CNC bending, buffing, automatic packaging, robotic equipment, computer-controlled labeling and others. The Kan-Ban system that guides production has been in place since 1984.