HISTORY

Peter Breen grew up around boats and lake life. His family cottage was on the Severn River in South Muskoka. From an early age, he had small "sea-fleas", canoes, and eventually runabouts. In his teen-age years, he became a boat mechanic on the river, and soon moved back to Toronto where he became a licensed Mercury Mechanic and became partners with John Blair in Lackies Marina.

Throughout this time, his hobby was always boats, in particular wooden boats. In 1985, he left Lackies Marina, to pursue his passion of wooden boats on a full-time basis. A house and shop were built just east of Guelph, Ontario, and after gaining visibility in the Antique & Classic Boat Club from early restorations for himself ( The Traveller & The Jessica), he earned the trust of a few early customers.

As one restoration led to the next, the shop slowly grew and improved, as did his meticulous knowledge of the craft. The initial experience with just a few early launches branched out into wooden boats of all types and sizes. He now has nearly 50 complete restorations to his companies credit, and 20 custom boats bear his name.

In 1989, Jeffrey was born. Peter raised him in much the same way he had been raised. A succession of small runabouts, used from their Severn River cottage and a lifetime around these beautiful boats led to the completion of Jeffrey's own award-winning gentleman's racer in 2016,"The Apprenticeship". After completing a business course and woodworking course at Conestoga College, Jeffrey started full time at Breen Boats in 2011 after years of part-time involvement. In addition to completing
numerous award-winning restorations and 'The Apprenticeship', he has built 'Empty Pockets' from the ground-up, and is currently finishing another one-of-a-kind hull design. Peter & Jeffrey now work alongside each other, gaining the benefits of both a life-time of experience in the industry and a youthful perspective & new ideas. This provides excellent value to the consumer.

Don Gill is the latest member of our team.
Don hails from Barbados, where his father built more than 20 very impressive wooden boats while he grew up on the island.
After spending 20 years with various companies in the marketing industry, Don decided to pursue something he was passionate about and get back to his roots. He is now an integral part of the team, and his attention to detail, whether it be woodworking, finishing, or metal work, is second to none.