This was a scary time for us. Meeting a professional skipper and then negotiating to buy his ‘baby’. Luckily, Piet was very sympathetic and understanding (he did want to sell to get a larger ship) and it worked out for us both. Nova Cura was very well maintained, but you could see that money was only spent when needed. When Piet was not travelling, he was painting and maintaining the ship and the ship was clearly fully functional and rigged up for a single skipper’s life.
View from the wheelhouse across the aluminium hatch covers 
Piet Sijbranda, the last professional skipper owning Nova Cura 
Arriving in Rotterdam 
Non-original davit 
Wheelhouse 
Sliding hatch covers… 
Very narrow for shoulders! 
Pre-purchase review… 
at Het Anker 
Howard with Piet 
Electrical control panel 
Engine controls 
Not complete without a washing machine 
Lounge 
Main engine room 
Cooling system (milk cooler) 
Secondary fuel tank 
Just in case…. 
Old compressed air starter cylinder 
Scania DSi 11 
Capital gearbox 
Stern gland 
Hydrovor 
Main fuel tank 
Forward engine room 
Foredeck storage 
Main anchor 
Lister generator 
DAF bow thruster 
Bow thruster vents