How did they keep their hats on

How did they keep their hats on

Thats the question of the day.
You see all the motor boats at full chat (love that saying – I stole it from Harold K) & the hats seem glued in place 🙂

Harold Kidd ‘Update’

SCRIPPS III was pretty quick with her 4 cylinder Model K Scripps, bore 5.5″ and stroke 6″ = 475 cu ins =7.6 litres. It was a straightforward side-valve engine with twin ignition, producing vast gobs of torque. A special feature was a vacuum bleed off the inlet manifold leading to a distribution box which in turn had flexible copper pipes which could conveniently be affixed to the back of one’s coat and then up the neck to the hairline and thence to the top of the head. This produced a respectable partial vacuum under the hat crown, keeping it firmly in place (unless one was a Mexican or Tom Mix or wore a ponytail).


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14 thoughts on “How did they keep their hats on

  1. Pingback: Defender At Speed | waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news – updated daily

  2. Pingback: Scripps III > Defender | waitematawoodys.com #1 for classic wooden boat stories, info, advice & news

  3. Hi Phyllis. Both of those launches have been discussed on this site. The information on WW is pretty much all you should need. Just type “WAI LANI” in the Search box at the top right of the page. It will then bring up both boats. You can then post on those threads for more info if required.
    WW is getting to be a bigger and better repository of this kind information every day.

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  4. SCRIPPS III was pretty quick with her 4 cylinder Model K Scripps, bore 5.5″ and stroke 6″ = 475 cu ins =7.6 litres. It was a straightforward side-valve engine with twin ignition, producing vast gobs of torque. A special feature was a vacuum bleed off the inlet manifold leading to a distribution box which in turn had flexible copper pipes which could conveniently be affixed to the back of one’s coat and then up the neck to the hairline and thence to the top of the head. This produced a respectable partial vacuum under the hat crown, keeping it firmly in place (unless one was a Mexican or Tom Mix or wore a ponytail).

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  5. No, I don’t think they had to stick ’em on. The boats all carved their way so effortlessly through both air and sea that there were no williwaws roaring down the deck and dropping into the cockpit to waft nga potae off. There is obviously a good breeze and they are almost stemming it.

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  6. Elastic under their chins that was attached each side of the brim????????

    Sent from my iPad

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