Ariki III has a colourful history. The 27-foot yacht was built in 1939 at the A King shipyard in Causeway Bay, the only local shipbuilder at the time. It was intended for the US market but war scuppered its delivery and the vessel sank in the harbour in 1946 - a result of neglect rather than hostilities.

A New Zealander, Hector Forsyth, restored the boat when war ended and named it after the Maori word for leader. In the next 30 years the boat changed hands several times until in 1986 when it came

into the hands of former University of Hong Kong finance officer Graeme Large. A sailing veteran, Large painstakingly restored the vessel with wooden boat specialist Fan Kwei-sum.

Lau, a casual sailor, spotted Ariki III in Sai Kung a few years ago and fell in love with the boat, but Large didn't want to sell. Then last May, Lau received a surprise phone call. 'Large had hurt his leg and decided that since he was in his 70s, he was too old to take care of the boat,' recalls Lau. 'He wanted to sell it to me because there are not that many people who love wooden boats.'

Boat restorer Fan, who had reminded the Briton of Lau's interest and brought the two men together, was once again entrusted with the task of returning the Ariki III to its former glory.

Many treasures from Hong Kong's sailing history might have been lost had they not been rescued by private benefactors. In 2002, the Lady Maurine, which once ferried newly appointed colonial governors from Kai Tak airport to Central, was bought and restored by businessman Peter Yu Wing-woon, who renamed it Madame Maurene. And when HSBC decided last year that it wasn't worth maintaining the Wayfoong, the bank's historic motor launch, Lan Kwai Fong Association chairman Allan Zeman and his wife Charmaine bought it and gave the 70-foot vessel a thorough makeover.

With the Ariki III, Lau was excited to discover that its registration number was C8 - echoing his other boat called Spirit of Eight.

'[Ariki III] has the same plan as a classic yacht called Mystic Islander and for the past 20 years it's been rigged as a sloop. But the original intention of the boat was a classic cutter so I've re-rigged it back to that,' Lau says.

Large had requested that three things be preserved on the boat - the Bukh engine, the old-world Baby Blake toilet and a gold coin set under the mast, which is supposed to bring sailors luck. Unfortunately, Lau lost the gold coin while retrieving it to show his family but he kept to the spirit of Large's wishes by fitting a new Baby Blake toilet and updating the Bukh engine.

The boat also features a wine rack that Large built under the bunks - the bottles are naturally kept cool since the hull is underwater.

However, Lau has added his own touches to enhance the vessel's antique character, gleaning ideas from books and magazines. Scouring antique shops and eBay, Lau ensured that all the fittings, from portholes to the toilet roll holder, were made of brass or bronze. The wooden mast requires a special rigging but otherwise it sails just like any other boat, he says.

Lau proudly displays a winch that has been with the boat since its first restoration. It's these old finds that delight the businessman, including two prisms that reflect natural light into a storage space below deck.

Restoration of aged wooden vessels is expensive. Charmaine Zeman, who oversaw the makeover of the Wayfoong, says it was a major challenge.

'The people at the Aberdeen shipyard where we were doing the work realised this, and it was wonderful how they pitched in to help,' she says.

'There was a lot of dry rot in the hull and on the deck and teak is extremely expensive.'

The Zemans hadn't realised exactly what they had taken on until the Marine Department sent details of the boat's history. Completed in 1930, it is an exact replica of the boat of the same name built for HSBC in 1898. The Wayfoong was used to transport gold and silver bullion to and from ships anchored in Victoria Harbour. Out-of-circulation money was also burnt on the boat.

Although Charmaine Zeman has refurbished other boats, she had to do some research to restore a period vessel. 'I had photocopies of all the ideas that I wanted to implement but when we started stripping everything away I realised that most of those things already existed,' she recalls. 'You couldn't see them because they had been painted over.'

The original brass fittings of the Wayfoong were revealed once the paint was stripped away, and Zeman achieved an art-deco feel by introducing a black-and-cream colour scheme throughout the boat. A galley and bathroom were added but care was taken to retain the old-world feel. To evoke its history, Zeman also displayed photographs of Hong Kong from the 1950s. With a dining area in the front and a leisure space in the aft-deck, Wayfoong has become an elegant vessel for Sunday outings.

For Lau, restoring a period vessel has proved inspirational: he's now studying the construction of Chinese junks in the hope of building a modern replica. Restoring one would be tricky because junks were built from memory and most of the craftsmen are dead, he says. 'Hong Kong junks are different from Fujian or Yangtze junks,' he says.

'It would be wonderful if the government could fund the building of a fleet of junks because this is a difficult and costly enterprise.'