Cincinnati Magazine
Photograph by Aaron M. Conway
Brian Keen credits his uncle for getting him into boats. He owned five or six, and as Keen entered college, his uncle’s interest grew and so did Keen’s. That interest, mixed with Keen’s love of old cars, motorcycles, and trucks, inspired him to open Motor Boat Garage in Norwood, where he restores and repairs classic and antique boats.
Photograph by Aaron M. Conway
Most of the boats Keen works on are wooden, made between the 1920s and the ’50s and ’60s, when fiberglass boats started to gain popularity. By 2016, when he launched his business, Keen had developed some basic boat repair skills, learning the trade working at the now-closed Antique Boat Center. “The specialized stuff, you have to be around and see and learn firsthand,” he says. “It’s definitely a hands-on kind of thing. You have to just get in there and start doing it.”