I was excited to get the Surf Skull as I always foil in a hat for sun protection, and I have taken a few minor knocks to the head so I wanted some extra protection without wearing a full helmet.
My first impressions were mixed, I like the fit and the neoprene straps are super comfortable and do a great job of blocking wind on my ears but I can still hear clearly. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see the helmet lining has a large gap across the back of your head where you do not get any protection.
I have had mine less than a year and the neoprene strap has torn where it is stitched, I have hand-stitched a repair. I have had no response from Surf Skull on this issue for over a week, but to be fair to them I emailed them over the Xmas holidays so I expect I will get a response in another week or two. A friend of mine ordered the same hat and had some of the soft lining on the helmet insert detach almost immediately.
My main issue is not the quality / robustness, but how the hat actually works as a helmet. It works really well as a hat and has never come off when duck diving waves, however I have been hit twice by my board while wearing this ‘helmet’ on the back of the head where there is no protection. Even worse than this is the fact that the chin strap has quite a narrow connection point to the hat and in a heavy / high speed wipe-out the hat will often come off, right at the time when you need it most.
I would not recommend the Surf Skull Bucket hat, which is a shame as I love the idea of helmet impact protection with the sun protection of a hat.
I was excited to get the Surf Skull as I always foil in a hat for sun protection, and I have taken a few minor knocks to the head so I wanted some extra protection without wearing a full helmet.
My first impressions were mixed, I like the fit and the neoprene straps are super comfortable and do a great job of blocking wind on my ears but I can still hear clearly. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to see the helmet lining has a large gap across the back of your head where you do not get any protection.
I have had mine less than a year and the neoprene strap has torn where it is stitched, I have hand-stitched a repair. I have had no response from Surf Skull on this issue for over a week, but to be fair to them I emailed them over the Xmas holidays so I expect I will get a response in another week or two. A friend of mine ordered the same hat and had some of the soft lining on the helmet insert detach almost immediately.
My main issue is not the quality / robustness, but how the hat actually works as a helmet. It works really well as a hat and has never come off when duck diving waves, however I have been hit twice by my board while wearing this ‘helmet’ on the back of the head where there is no protection. Even worse than this is the fact that the chin strap has quite a narrow connection point to the hat and in a heavy / high speed wipe-out the hat will often come off, right at the time when you need it most.
I would not recommend the Surf Skull Bucket hat, which is a shame as I love the idea of helmet impact protection with the sun protection of a hat.