Mallard 9 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a Mallard 9 means looking at a Philippe Harle–designed 29-foot French cabin cruiser built between 1975 and 1981, with about a hundred examples afloat. She is a masthead sloop with a single-cabin, six-berth layout and two iron keel options, and the used fleet tends to cluster in the western Mediterranean.
Layouts on the Used Market
The standard boat carries one cabin, one head, and six berths, a plan that has aged as a practical coastal weekender rather than a volume-packed charter interior. Two keels were offered: a deep fin drawing 5.6 to 5.9 feet and a shallow fin at 4.8 to 5.1 feet, both iron. A buyer choosing the shallow variant gains access to thinner harbors, while the deep keel suits open-water stability; either way the boat enters most marinas without drama. The 40-gallon water and 13-gallon fuel tanks describe a boat built for overnights and short hops, not long autonomous stretches.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
On the typical used Mallard 9 you will commonly find an autopilot, a gennaker, a bimini, teak decks, a chartplotter, and a life raft already fitted. For a buyer, the consequential clusters are energy and steering — the autopilot paired with the chartplotter reduces short-handed watch burden — and sail handling and shelter, where the gennaker extends light-air range and the bimini makes Mediterranean summers tolerable. Teak decks are a cosmetic and maintenance item rather than a performance one, and the life raft is a safety baseline worth verifying for currency.
What to Inspect
The keels are iron, so survey for corrosion or past repair at the fin-to-hull joint and along the leading edge. Confirm which keel is fitted and its actual draft under load, as the documented draft ranges shift with cargo and crew. Check the wetted-surface condition given the 312-square-foot bottom area, and verify the ballast remains intact inside the solid fiberglass hull.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The Mallard 9 is typically found in Italy and France. For a shopper, the short list is: confirm keel type and iron condition, validate life-raft service date, verify autopilot and chartplotter function, and assess teak-deck maintenance needs before offer.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Mallard 9. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 2 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26 | 2 | $21,372 | — |
| Apr 26 | 1 | $20,650 | -3.4% |