Founded By A Michigan Son - An American Hero, Patriot, Rebel - Now Celebrating 30 Years

Published: Wednesday, January 29, 2020

E-Z Anchor Puller Mfg. Co. was founded in 1990 by George l. Towns, who was born and raised in Ludington, Mich. After graduating from high school with the class of 1943, George enlisted and served during World War II with the U. S. Navy’s naval construction battalion, “Seabees”. He was tasked with operating overhead cranes and loading ships during his tour of duty.

After the war, Towns opened the first sportfishing marina in Ludington, the Tamarac Sport Fishing Dock. He made his own down riggers, started a charter operation on his 38-foot boat, Moonlighter, and ran a sports fishing store in downtown Ludington. In 1985, while fishing from his winter home in Islamorada, Florida Keys, he became frustrated with tangled anchor lines and the safety hazards involved when climbing out onto the bow of his boat to set and retrieve his anchor.

Calling on his years of military experience with cranes and drum winches in WW2, George had an idea for a deck-mounted drum winch that could avoid the pitfalls of tangled and frayed anchor lines. Furthermore, it would have superior holding capacity that could avoid tying the anchor rode off to a cleat. He fabricated some PVC plastic brackets and base plate along with a stainless steel spool and mounted it to a modified Ramsey worm gear speed reducer, an electric winch commonly found on tow trucks and small overhead cranes. George had no intention of selling his one-of-a-kind anchor winch initially. However, in a short time, several of his neighbors and fishing club friends insisted he make one for each of them. George contracted manufacturing services from a few local vendors to satisfy these orders forced upon him by his friends, but as the positive word-of-mouth spread about this awesome new anchor retrieval solution, George was compelled into business and E-Z Anchor Puller Mfg. Co. was born.

In 2009 at the age of 83, George passed away and E-Z Anchor Puller was acquired by long time customers. The business was moved to Florida and has since thrived. Now in the 30th year of making E-Z Anchor Pullers, the company is proud to offer state-of-the-art technology and world class quality drum anchor winches in three models - the Hero, Patriot, and Rebel - named in honor of our Founder and true American, George l. Towns.

Available for boats up to 55’, the Rebel series, specifically, makes deep water anchoring a breeze with its auto drop free fall system. A quick two-second push of the lower button rotates the clutch plate and your anchor line is released to free spool, dropping your anchor to the bottom at the fastest drop speed possible.

Once your anchor line is fully deployed, press and hold the raise button for five seconds and the clutch plate will again rotate, this time clamping down on the spool and holding the boat at anchor. When your fun is done, retrieve your anchor line and anchor by holding the raise button until the anchor is out of the water and against the bow roller. You can choose to temporarily suspend the auto drop free fall feature as well and operate in a “power down” mode.

E-Z Anchor Puller is a DIY option with the provided instructions, but authorized dealers and installers are available for those less inclined. Get your winch at www.ezanchorpuller.com today.