What we do:
This service provides access to our expertise and experience on an interactive question and answer basis as you define and refine your requirements for an offshore boat and then assistance in evaluating the boats available that meet those requirements at a price within your budget.

You may also wish to keep us involved in the project as you fit out and equip your new boat. After all, if we save you from buying one poor piece of expensive gear, never mind the wrong boat, it will more than pay our fees. We can also advise you on negotiating with boat yards and equipment vendors and setting realistic budgets for projects.

By hiring us you have access to 135,000 miles and 45 years of combined offshore sailing experience buying, selling, rebuilding, refitting, maintaining and above all sailing several boats. Do we have all the answers? Of course not, no one does. In fact, over the years we have made plenty of mistakes, both on and off the water. Our goal is to help you to not make the same ones. Read more about us.

In considering our services, keep in mind that everyone else involved in your boat purchase and fitting out decisions will have a vested interest in selling you something. Even the surveyor was probably recommended by the broker and will have little interest in blowing up the sale for that broker by painting too negative a picture of the boat under consideration.

If you decide to engage us you will be buying a known service, since by looking at our web site, www.morganscloud.com, you can get a clear idea of the range of our expertise and how we communicate it and see if this matches your needs.

You can communicate with us by e-mail (we get e-mail daily at all times) or telephone (except when we are on a passage).

What we don’t do:
We are not boat finders—that’s the broker’s job; also, there are many very good boat search sites on the Internet, such as www.yachtworld.com. However, once you or your broker have found a boat, we will help you decide how closely it matches your criteria and what compromises are worth making (all boats are compromises).

Neither are we surveyors nor would we ever suggest that you substitute our advice for a survey. However, while a surveyor will advise you of construction or equipment problems, he/she will not tell you that you might be dealing with the wrong boat or equipment for your needs in the first place—that’s our job.

Consulting terms and conditions:
We charge Euro55.00/hour (about US$75.00 at current exchange rates) plus out of pocket expenses (usually just telephone costs).

We ask that you pay via credit card—we use PayPal, part of eBay, which is very secure, and you don’t have to join PayPal—for five hours up front. We will keep you informed as we use that time up. If at any time you are not happy with our service, you may terminate the agreement and the unused balance will be refunded to you.

Unless otherwise arranged, all information that we provide remains copyright of John Harries and/or Phyllis Nickel and all rights are reserved. The payments you make to us confer the right to the information for your use only. You may make up to ten copies either electronically or on paper for your own use.

Some of the information that you receive may be in the form of documents that we originally prepared for another client. In this case, you will be charged a notional hourly rate, that will not exceed two hours without your prior permission, reflecting a share of the initial research that went into the documents’ preparation. In most cases, but not all, the information will be updated and customized for your use, which will be charged in addition to the notional amount.

Still not sure? Try us out for free

We are happy to answer one or two reasonably simple questions for free as part of our commitment to giving back to the voyaging community.