Hats-more than just a stylish "cover"

[ohiotuber]

I am pushing 65 years of age & until I turned 50, I NEVER wore a hat while fishing. Call me lucky, but in spite of a blistered nose & peeling ears, I somehow avoided skin cancer. Then I started wearing a ball cap, then a "boonie hat" for full brim protection. In one of our many discussions, dear old departed friend, Jim Birkholm (Castwell from FAOL), & Ladyfisher, Deanne, suggested I consider a Tilley hat. Those were nice but WAY out of my hat budget. Then I semi-retired & among my gifts was a $75.00 gift certificate to a local store that carried literally NOTHING for the fly fisher. I was thinking about trying to sell the certificate to another customer when I saw a Tilley display. Well, I ended up buying a supposed "over priced" Tilley LTM6 Airflo hat (mine is olive). That was two years ago.....I wear it EVERY fishing trip, to soccer games, zoos with the Grandkids, & literally everywhere I will get a lot of sun (and rain!). If I ever lose that hat, I WILL spend the money for another. It is extremely light weight, and besides providing great sun protection, it literally eliminates side glare which really helps you focus on the fly/line in front of you.
The reason for this post is NOT to market Tilley Hats (I have no ties to them), but to try to suggest to others that hats, particularly full brim hats, are an extremely important tool in the outdoors. Brand is of course up to individual preference but price should not be a deterent to protection & our individual health in addition to function.
Just my opinion & what I feel is a necessary reminder. Regardless of brand, please look at a full brim hat...they definitely serve a purpose.
Mike

[Uncle Jesse]

Tuber, as a fisherman who parts his hair wide I would have to agree. I do not have a Tilley hat but still have a boonie hat for cooler days and a wide bream straw hat for warmer days. One of our friends recently had a photo on her facebook page of a newly pierced ear that a brim might have prevented. A decent hat, I got my last two at a large sporting goods company for a deal and they have a fabric underneath the straw to block the sun, and decent sun glasses are two investments I would encourage everyone to make.

Skin cancer can be a lot more serious than most of us, especially youngers under 50, take. My alma mater had one of the starting football players die from what started as skin cancer last fall, it moved extremely fast and got him within about 6 weeks of discovery. He was a young black man from Birmingham, and most of us think dark complexion protects us or them from skin cancer. Be smart.

[Jack Hise]

For once Tuber is right on!! But he forgot to mention that the "Tilly" is warrentied against loss or theft. I don't know of any other hat that is!? If you read the history of the Tilly you will find that one was eaten by an Elephant and then passed with no damage!! I think I would have reported it stolen!!
Good post Mikey.

[TyroneFly]

Way too much information Jack.

Good post Mike. Like a lot of people I tend to grab a baseball style cap, but full brim is a better way to go as you stated.

[kbproctor]

My very first job was working on a ranch outside Glenrock, WY the summer I was 14. I wore a full on western hat or "cowboy" hat for years. The wide brim keeps the sun and rain out of your eyes and off your ears and neck and does it quite well. As time passed, I switched to ball caps most of the time. I still wear a ball cap most of the time with my logo on it. When I fish, though, I wear a Tilley styled hat with a wide brim. It does what the old cowboy hat did for me and also keeps errant flies from embedding themselves in my ear. It's not a Tilley, but has that general shape. It's camo and I picked it up at Wally World for $10. I enjoy that hat as much as any I have ever owned.

[quivira kid]

I went a bit different route, myself. I bought a Buff earlier this spring to protect myself from the sun and the bugs. It's been on a few trips now, when I've fished mid-day and would have gotten a dandy sunburn. Absolutely love it! They are comfortable to wear, more breatheable than I figured, and take up VERY little space when not in use.
It's definitely an option to consider.

[crappiecrazy]

101_0571 (Medium).JPG

Results of not wearing hat and sunscreen. Hope the biopsy comes out ok. Hope this is not too dramatic but maybe someone will remember the hat!

[ohiotuber]

Thanks folks. I'm pleased so many have taken the time to read this thread. I do highly recommend the Tilley. As I stated in my original post, I didn't wear a hat for years & still DO hate the weight & tight feeling of a hat on my head. I often FORGET that I am wearing the Tilley...that's how light & comfortable they are. You really have to try one to really grasp what I'm saying.
Jack Hise mentioned the loss insurance...It is 50% of Tilley retail for 2 years after purchase.
Bottom line is that if I have helped to convince ONE person to go to a "full brim" hat, then this thread paid dividends.
By the way, here I am under my Tilley...


Mike

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

I bought a Tilley from Tilley himself at the Vancouver Boat show in the Mid 1980s. The cost back then was $20.00. He only sold one model in those days and the only color you could buy was bright White. The sign bragged that Tilleys were not sold in stores. Within about 5 years or so I was suprised to see them being sold in finer menswear stores. After my first day out in my boat wearing it on the waters of Okanagan lake in bright sunlight I got a mild case of sunstroke. I believed that the too bright hat was partially the cause so went home and dyed the Hat Navy blue. Next year I wore it to the Vancouver boat show and as I passed the Tilley booth. Tilley called me over and asked to see the hat and asked if I had dyed it. I said yes because the bright white of it plus the glare and reflection off the water was overwhelming. He said that they had realized that and that this year were coming out with a blue hat. Ha ha great minds think alike. The next year his hats offered white with a green underbrim.
I once lost my Hat overboard in a tidal rapids off Sandspit in the Queen Charlotte Islands but found it the next day at low tide tangled in a mass of kelp.

Years later I paid $50.00 for one and gave it to a friend for his birthday. I learned later that He thought it was an el cheapo hat, He disliked it and gave it away. A couple of years after that He asked me if that hat I had bought him back then was a Tilley. I said yes. He swore some and then confessed to giving it to his brother who from then on teased him about being so dumb. He now wears a Tilley he bought himself for $75.00.

I still have my blue Tilley and wear it almost all the time. I also bought several lifetime guaranteed shirts from Tilley. Which I cannot wear anymore because I expanded several sizes over the years. At least my head is the same size so the hat still fits.

Good thread Mikey!

[tedshuck]

The praise for Tilley hats on this thread prompted me to buy one a week ago. It is all everything here says it is and I think it was definitely worth the $77 that they charge for one today.

Ted