Should a Wooden Boat Hat Float?

[Garret]

I was taking the 17' bowrider up to the place the kids are renting for 2 weeks so they'd have a boat to use. I launched about 10 miles away* & took it up by myself. I peeked above the windshield @ about 20 MPH & off it went. I dropped the revs, circled back around, saw it & headed for it. It was a ways - maybe 500 ft. but by the time I got to it it was about 2 ft down & sinking. No boat hook on that boat & I wasn't about to dive for it with no one in the boat & 15MPH wind. I'll admit the hat was fairly well used - but no rips or tears - so quite new by my standards! At least I have a Center for Wooden Boats hat to use.

* Boat ramps - for some strange reason - tend to fill up on the 4th of July weekend. Whoda thunkit? I ended up launching at a muddy canoe launch - which worked fine for launching, but I sure wouldn't try to haul it there. Lost the license plate somewhere along the ways too. Seems some moron forgot to tighten the bolts when he put it on.

[LeeG]

It should sink very slowly

[Breakaway]

Only if its made from lignum vitae.


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[Peerie Maa]

Dumb question

[Garret]

We all know I'm good at dumb questions!

I'm a bit slimmer than that...

[Rob Hazard]

Now if you'd had your WoodenBoat boathook (that's designed to float upright!), you'd have had no problem picking up your WoodenBoat hat. Perhaps we should all get together and encourage the WoodenBoat Store to carry WoodenBoat hat floats, shaped like tiny lobster buoys, in a suitably wide selection of colors, of course...

[CWSmith]

I couldn't find a price, but it doesn't look comfortable.



Besides, there are a lot of wooden boats that don't float, either.

[Rich Jones]

I've got two wide brim Wooden Boat hats that float. One even has a chin strap.
I've also got about 6 of the baseball cap style.
Luckily, I haven't lost one yet.
That said, I rarely go screaming about at the ungodly speed of 20mph!

[Ian McColgin]

I put foam tucked into the inner band of the Quaker Marine Atlantic Roll-Up you can see on my pic here. I also add a functional chin band.

[rbgarr]

I've come across a couple of sailing hats on the water. One of them I was able to return to the owner.

[LeeG]

My favorite kayaking hat was a straw hat from the hardware store. Those heavy canvas hats don’t do it for me.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

If it doesn't, you should get your money back. What does WB Management think this is, some kind'a apres-boat outfit, just sitting around the YC yacking about boats? Our local Experimental Aircraft Assoc Chapter's slogan is "We FLY our airplanes".

[amish rob]

Dumb question

I am so impressed! One of the best, ever, I think. Which may say too much?

[Rich Jones]

Putting floating hats aside for a moment, I contend that all winch handles on sailboats should be capable of floating!

[Beowolf]

African or European?

[John B]

Picking up anything, most commonly caps, was a standard man overboard drill for us. Must be a hundred or so.
We never lost any though because lanyard. Random thought, The LPBC must have 20,000 miles or so at sea...who knows..a few anyway, it survives.

[Breakaway]

There is an advantage in saltwater in that caps sink slower than in fresh, if at all.


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[elf]

I pick up hats like that on beach walks all the time. Terrible design. Fly off your head if you look up at the sky every time.

[David W Pratt]

If it doesn't, you should get your money back. What does WB Management think this is, some kind'a apres-boat outfit, just sitting around the YC yacking about boats? Our local Experimental Aircraft Assoc Chapter's slogan is "We FLY our airplanes".

No, most certainly not sitting around the YC yacking {sic} about boats. It is for sitting in front of your keyboard, pontificating.

[skuthorp]

I loose hats all the time sailing my dinghy………. my 'wooden boat hat' is only worn on land…...

[StevenBauer]

I loose hats all the time sailing my dinghy………. my 'wooden boat hat' is only worn on land…...

Of course you’d lose your hat if it were loose. Tighten that thing up!

[John B]

This one also floats.. Assisted by Drua
20190905_151158.jpg

[Rob Hazard]

As much as I love my WB ball cap, on the water I stick with a full brimmed hat. I've had enough skin damage for one lifetime, thank you.

[CWSmith]

As much as I love my WB ball cap, on the water I stick with a full brimmed hat. I've had enough skin damage for one lifetime, thank you.

I had cancer on the top of both ears. I also wear a full brimmed hat on the boat.

[Mcjim]

My floppy sailing hat has a piece of foam in the crown. I should help it float (lesson learned from losing the last one) and it does help a bit if I misjudge the boom (lesson still not well learned).

[Garret]

'zact same color & general condition. Hmmm... how'd it get over to your part of the world so quickly?

This one also floats.. Assisted by Drua
20190905_151158.jpg

[goodbasil]

Buy a Tilly.

[John B]

'zact same color & general condition. Hmmm... how'd it get over to your part of the world so quickly?

Handed to me by a WBeffer in,in...early 19 it must be.

[wizbang 13]

keeps yer cap on and yers ears and neck outta the sun

[Todd D]

Depends on what wood it is made from.

[StevenBauer]

My favorite kayaking hat was a straw hat from the hardware store. Those heavy canvas hats don’t do it for me.

Tilley hats come in a lighter weight fabric now, with ventilation, too. And the top of he crown has a thin piece of closed cell foam that insulates from the sun and helps the hat float. They call it the Airflow. Highly recommended.

I like Wiz’s solution, too.

[Figment]

As a practical matter, how would we change the hat in order to prevent it sinking (without it becoming a plastic Trucker's Hat)?

My Lucky Racing Hat is a bucket from a local clam shack, I think there must be foam sewn into the brim or something because it's been overboard a dozen times and it keeps on coming back. (twice it's been picked up by other boats and handed to me at the after-party)

[Garret]

I could glue ping-pong balls around the circumference of the hat. Wouldn't look goofy at all!

Or Rob's idea above - hang some floaty lobster type ornaments off it.

One of the things I like about the WB hat is that it fits fairly flush on my head - so Ian's idea of foam defeats that to an extent. While I get that Tilley hats offer great protection, I've never cared for the wide brim all the way 'round the hat. Life is so complicated!

[Rob Hazard]

Actually, I think what makes a ball cap sink is the plastic bill stiffener. Change that to one made of polypropylene and it might just float.

[George.]

A couple of times on Dalia we went back to fetch a hat that blew off. Once we were going wing-and-wing in a 25 knot breeze, but the hat floated so it was retrieved. To me they were great opportunities to practice MOB drill. We would toss the doughnut and flag and everything.