MYOG Chinese style conical hat

Yes, I've been thinking about this for a long time. I first had ideas about this about ten years ago and it never became enough of a priority to push aside other MYOG projects.

Do you have a link to any information about Joe Valesko's hat? I was aware of it, but I wasn't able to find anything when I last looked.

I think materials could be identified that would serve all of the purposes one could dream up for a hat like this. I have some 30D aluminized silnylon that is shiny on one side and green on the other, for example. With this material, the hat would be waterproof, provide complete shade, would be aesthetically inoffensive (green side out), and it would be lightweight. With a drawstring around the perimeter and a kite surfing valve at the peak it could easily be used as a water bag or a stuff sack (or even a pump sack for a sleeping pad, maybe).

The problem, as you said, is keeping it hat shaped and secured to one's head in hat mode. If it were made of foam (like Joe's?), it would be simpler to solve that problem because the material might be rigid enough on its own. But a fabric one would have to be built like a kite, with rods, hoops, etc.

Maybe fabric with a foam insert? Straight foam would work as a hat, but I'm not sure it would work as a water bag/stuff sack unless it also had a layer of fabric.

Chris Muthig wrote about a hat like this on his blog. He says Joe from ZPacks gave him some advice. His hat is a foam structure with a hat band and then a waterproof fabric top. Pictures and a simple tutorial.
http://kringlelight.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/santa-hat/

Greg, thanks for that link (and thanks to Chris Muthig). I think a foam sheet with a silnylon cover might be the way to go. The cover could double as a water bag and stuff sack and the foam sheet could be a sit pad or a component of a sleeping pad.

Hi,

Check out page 2 of this thread:

Cone Hat

I have a Japanese conical hat and made one like I show in the thread. You need some kind of head band attached to the inside of the hat to make it work. The Japanese one came with something that looked like a padded donut with a chin strap.

If the rim of a hat is a disk (that is, it fits on a flat plane) it will tend to flop around more

If the rim is conical with a hole in the middle for your head, it will flop less in the wind

I've been making a few hats that way and the brim keeps it's shape better in the wind

The Chinese and Vietnamese have cones without holes in the middle for your head. Your head sort of goes in the top of the cone. There must be a drawstring to keep if from blowing off. They have spent 1000s of years in the heat and humidity so have perfected a great design taht we could do well to copy. Then, there will be an air space at the top of your head and the hat will only be in a ring shape around your head near the top so sweating should be minimized. Hmmm… I should make one of those with lightweight materials…

You lost me at "Chinese style conical hat", seems like a fashion statement.

But an idea- you could use one of those dog neck cones to stiffen it up and sew 30D silnylon around it.

I love my hat.

Over the last several trips it has become my single favorite piece. Keeps me shaded in hot Georgia sun, and keeps me dry without the need of a hood when it starts to pour.

I've found that the generic blue foam is plenty stable when it is curved into shape for the hat. Even on windy days the foam doesn't bend on me. On very windy days, on top of balds, I have had issues with the windy trying to take it off my head, but in the Southeast days like that are not very common. So far, I haven't needed a chin strap on it to help keep it on.

When making the cover for it, it should be easy enough to make it waterproof if you use cuben and tape it.

Wow, I'm impressed with your MYOG hat.

I was wondering if you've considered how you might incorporate this into a gravity filtration system. My thought was the following: have both the inside and outside lined with Cuben fiber with all seams taped. Have a hole at the top of the hat which can be closed as needed. Now invert the hat, have a Platy tube attachment come out the top ala the ULA Amigo system, and use the chinstrap as a hang cord. Thoughts?

I really want to try to replicate your design, but I'm not sure my stitching skills are up to it. Any ideas on how to lighten the weight? Joe Valesko's hat only weighs 2.3 oz per his gear list on his website.

Hey David, I saw your post on the blog first, so answered there. My email notifications are set up on those comments, so I generally notice those first.

Short answer is: you can definitely make this into a filter hang bag. You can also make it lighter, but at the cost of functionality. Lighter foam would probably be the big difference between my hat and Joe's, which makes it more susceptible to wind.