Who We Are
Meet the Team
Brian Keen
Owner
I have always had a history and passion for restoring cars, pickup trucks, and motorcycles. This passion has served me well when it came to restoring the engines in the old wood boats we service. Along with my wood working background it was a perfect match when it came to restoring wood boats.
I began working on wood boats professionally in 2006. Due to my mechanical background I ended up being the lead mechanic at a local wood boat restoration business.
I was the manager of a restoration shop in Florida from 2014 to 2016. I realized that the distance to family outweighed the benefit of living in Florida.
In 2016 I founded Motor Boat garage. I wanted to have a shop dedicated more to personalized service with our customers as opposed to a “Service Ticket assembly line” shop. I have assembled a group of dedicated boat restorers that have many years of experienced wood working skills.
Dennis Ryan
Sales & Marketing
Growing up in northern Ohio with a handyman father and a Mr. Goodwrench neighbor, I learned the skills and confidence to fix almost anything. At age 16, I began building and racing cars at quarter mile dragstrips. The love of fixing, racing and building led to founding and running my construction company for 33 years before joining a local international antique boat sales and service company where I was president for 8 years.
My passion for wood boats led me to be on the Board of Directors of the Antique and Classic Boat Society for 6 years. Being asked to be a judge at the ACBS International Boat Shows has been an honor. It allowed me to learn over the past decade more about the various boat builders, restorers and their building techniques.
Motor Boat Garage has created an environment where there is a desire to preserve and educate. Being asked to work with the team at Motor Boat Garage has allowed me to continue my involvement with antique boats that are being restored and maintained with quality and craftsmanship.
Joel Terbrueggen
Restoration Specialist
I was raised on Lake St. Clair in Michigan. My father always had a boat of some kind. In winter months we sailed Ice Boats on the frozen Lake St. Clair. In summertime my time on the water was either in a small sail boat we built from Popular Mechanics’ plans, or in a lapstrake called a Sorg, then the venerable Chris Craft Sportsman.
My memories of the Sportsman were from Miller Marina in St. Clair Shores were the boat was kept. My dad always had me wipe it down with a chamois after each use, then maintenance varnish in the spring. It’s tough to get a decent finish coat when applied at the marina, sometimes outside.
Eventually as I got older, I developed an interest in restoring the old wood boats as a hobby. Somehow word spread and I began receiving calls from other people restoring boats as well.
Once the internet came along, I found a Restoration chat room in AOL and enjoyed that. Finally, I started teaching restoration classes. I did that for 15 to 20 years and enjoyed it immensely.
Starting in the mid 90’s buyers of wood boats began contacting me to inspect a potential purchase they were considering. I did that for a little more than 20 years and inspected almost 620 boats. I got to know where to look for common issues in wood boats. A lot of my work, over 22,00 pictures, are available to be viewed at the ACBS Members area.
I started the restoration shop in a Cincinnati based Antique and Classic Boat business. I was with them about 15 years.
Not long after retiring from there Brian Keen started Motor Boat Garage. He asked me if I would be interested in helping him, so here I am. So much for retirement.
Frank Jones
Restoration Specialist
After getting out of school I was hired as a service technician for a local Ford dealership. Antique furniture restoration was a hobby of mine thanks to my father’s collections of old radios. After 12 years of working on cars I took my hobby to a professional level.
An opportunity came along that allowed me to join a new company that specialized in Antique furniture restoration. Eventually that parlayed into the design and building of custom furniture. This allowed my obsession for detail to flourish. I enjoyed this work for 25 years. Unfortunately, the economic downturn that the country was going into forced the closure of the shop.
A fellow wood worker told me about a wood boat restoration company in town that was hiring. It was an easy transition from custom furniture to antique and classic boats.
I left that company to join Brian at Motor Boat Garage when he called me with an offer I couldn’t refuse.
Tim Frey
Master Craftsman
Tim is a master craftsman with years of woodworking experience.