Dana McLean's fascination with lobster boat design first took shape when he was a young boy, surrounded by family and friends that were lobstermen.

He loved those wooden boats. From ages six and seven, he would visit his grandfather, James York, in Phippsburg, while he was building boats. McLean was fascinated by the way his grandfather would bend the ribs in his shop.

B.B.L.B., “before building lobster boats,” McLean's adult working life, from the 1970s to 1990s, encompassed interior and exterior painting, the historical restoration of old Capes and big captains houses, including the Nichols-Sortwell House in Wiscasset.

He is a self-taught cabinet maker who worked with Ron Durgin of Ron Durgin Painting.

His passion for building models of lobster boats began in the early 1993, carved out of crazy boredom after seriously injuring his neck. Combined with other ongoing health issues, McLean was literally going stir crazy. One day, McLean's girlfriend, Linda Sue, brought a how-to-build lobster boats book to him at their Woolwich home.

“Fortunately, the book had a lot of pictures and diagrams,” McLean said, laughing. “But I thought building a lobster boat didn't look hard to do.”

And why should it? The talent was in his blood. In addition to his grandfather, his great uncle Alton Wallace designed “The Westpointer” lobster boat. In York, his great uncle Dana York was the builder of pond models of sailboats in Cundy's Harbor.

“Wooden boats are beautiful, they just are,” McLean said. “Once I started building them, from photographs, I tried to make them as true and accurate as possible. There are designs out there today of day party boats and others that are all based on the lobster boat design. Look at the shape of the main style hull.”

All model hulls are built to scale and constructed of white pine from five different molds. The ribs are from poplar. He bends them by soaking the cut ribs from the poplar boards in ammonia for two to three hours. McLean also made some of his own equipment, including a special jig for his planer.

McLean said getting the paint to appear aged took some experimenting, but was achieved quite by accident.

“You always learn something while your doing,” McLean said. “I painted over a black bottomed boat with red Rustoleum and it just wouldn't dry. So, I put some paint thinner on a rag to wipe the Rustoleum off, and when I did, I got the ‘worn’ aged effect I had been wanting to do!”

Since 1993, McLean has constructed 28 “shrunken” lobster boats. Make that shrunken wooden lobster boats.

His first boat, the Linda Sue, is an exact replica of her father, Arthur Gilbert's, lobster boat, which Gilbert designed. His boat is mounted atop of one of Gilbert's buoys.

McLean takes detail to its highest level. The Linda Sue has only one lobster trap just as it did the day McLean took the photographs. He has gone so far as to replicate a can of Budweiser on a dashboard because it was there.

Years ago McLean took a few pieces to the Montsweag Flea Market, but discovered it wasn't the place to sell his boats. He did, however, make a connection with a woman who suggested his models would be a great addition to the Lincoln Arts Festival's Art and Yachts event held in late August.

This year was the second year McLean participated. He brought two models — both of which were for sale. Price tag: $4,200. He said people either loved them, or didn't understand why the boats were priced that high.

McLean is a perfectionist, which leads to constructing a boat until he is satisfied.

“It went from being models to being art,” McLean said. “It's a three dimensional piece of art; it’s a sculpture of history. People just don't build wooden lobster boats and traps anymore, not like they used to. It's all fiberglass now or composite, wire traps, Styrofoam buoys. My boats represent a time that isn't here anymore.”

McLean is currently working on the restoration of two half models from sister sloops of war ships. And now that his health issues seem to be “finally coming around” he plans to resume working on the half models and one of his unfinished boats.

This one will be a 32-foot lobster boat based in Boothbay Harbor named Sea Foam that he started five to six years ago. When completed, it will be the 11th boat he has made from that mold. McLean reuses molds, and enters the names of all other boats created by the same model in each new one.

“When I build these models I get this wicked excitement,” McLean said. “Then I get the pictures and compare. Did I get it right or didn't I?

“If I find a problem, usually one no one else would notice, I have to make it again to make it a true replica. I go to extremes … did I tell you about the Budweiser can?”

For more information on McLean's lobster boats, call 207-443-3810.