Inside SOTW Mag: Full Tilt—Meet The Man Behind The Boats

If you are unsure you’ve ever met Michigan performance boater Ed Tirakian then you definitely haven’t encountered the CEO of Ebbco Inc. in New Baltimore, Mich., because he’s an unforgettable person. Not only is Tirakian full of enthusiasm and as welcoming as all get out, he’s owned five different boats named Tilt that pretty much everyone who boats on Lake St. Clair and the surrounding waterways has seen at one point or another over the past four decades.

Meet the Michigan boater whose fifth boat named Tilt is a freshly painted and updated 40-foot Skater. Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

And by the off chance the locals haven’t seen any of the boats, surely they’ve caught a glimpse of the Tilt Christmas sign decoration that’s been displayed on the downtown Algonac waterfront for the past five years.

To know Tirakian is to be acquainted with a passionate, knowledgeable powerboat enthusiast who can recite which Michigan boaters owned what rides when, and he calls them all friends. That’s just how Tirakian—aka Mr. Tilt, a nod to his days of buying and selling pinball machines—rolls.

The 58-year-old also is very organized. That was evident by the impressive grouping of images he e-mailed over for this article. Getting to see the Tilt evolution some 35 years in the making is super cool. Especially when it comes to Tirakian’s newest boat, which is as full tilt as it gets thanks to an incredible makeover courtesy of Chris Mills and the team at Boat Customs in Caledonia, Mich., as well as Craig Ellis and the team at Appearance Products in Grand Haven, Mich.

To enjoy the complete feature, click the download link for the PDF of the September/October 2019 Speed On The Water magazine, and please share any feedback with us below, via email or on social media.