The publicans had taken the boat out for a spin last week and for Mrs Tipoki, who has a love for history, it had a real sense of recreating part of the area's past, she said.
"The ferry was fundamental to Wairarapa, without that little boat the early settlers couldn't get here.
"I've heard it said Lake Ferry is the birthplace of the Wairarapa."
Mrs Tipoki said the first ferry service was operated by Maori.
Following a drowning in 1850, a ferryman was appointed and to supplement his income residents decided to establish a hotel in 1851 and combine the role of publican and ferryman.
The Lake Ferry settlement was so named because the first publican, William Ardley, was licensed on condition he row travellers from Wellington across the mouth of the lake.
Mrs Tipoki said the licence was never revoked, but the service stopped operating in the 1960s.
She said the boat will be named "Te Where", the Maori translation of "The Ferry".
"We want to do it in Maori to incorporate the two cultures, to acknowledge both Maori and European."
Mrs Tipoki said they had been encouraged to run the service by Destination Wairarapa to take advantage of the growing number of visitors on the Rimutaka Cycle Trail, which runs down the lake's western shore.
She said the service was not too far away but they were still arranging the right permits.
According to the 1882 "Lower Lake Ferry Scale of Tolls" noticeboard, the ferry cost one shilling for every passenger to cross and for "a horse with man in charge", one shilling and sixpence.
