I used to have Yachtsaver bags in our old boat so I feel (somewhat)
qualified to reply to all this:

- they are indeed out of business

- they closed about 3 years ago, citing 2 reasons: lack of sales, and CE
tests for Europe that indicated the actual volume of some of their bags was
less than calculated i.e. some of the systems already installed may have
been marginal at best in terms of how much actual flotation provided.

- each of their standard bags was supposed to provide 1 ton of lift. Bags
were about 4" thick x 24" long x 8" high. Pretty easy to find room for 4 of
them in our small 30' cutter. Easy to bolt their mounting straps to
bulkheads that could withstand 1 ton of force. I did the calcs on bulkhead
bearing strength and taping and it was o.k.

- 1 CO2 cylinder was enough for 4 bags.

- Price for the system was $2200 USD +/-. About the same cost as a
liferaft, and you might well save your boat with the system. Pretty good
idea if you ask me.

- for larger boats, they become pretty costly quickly, so a liferaft starts
to sound very appealling in cost, especially if your boat is insured (we
were not)

Our next boat is a 40' catamaran, with 6 different w.t. compartments.
Should be enough to float the boat with any 1 compartment flooded (but I
will do the hydrostatics to check this for myself).


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)