Keep Cool with Mesh-Top Hats
It’s the middle of summer. Temps are hot and the sun is intense. Skin cancer is a very real risk for those who spend a lot of time in the sun. You should wear a hat that provides sun protection for your ears and the back of your neck. That means something with better coverage than the ordinary baseball cap. Cabela’s offers three mesh-top hats that provide excellent sun protection, with good ventilation. Mesh panels in the crown provide cooling airflow.
River Guide® Canvas Breezer Hat — $29.95
This is a great hat with a nice wide brim that offers superior sun protection. The River Guide hat looks good and holds its shape well, even after extended use. Vent panels extend all the way around the crown, with solid material on top.
Cabela’s buyers loved this hat:
“Purchased quite a few wide-brimmed hats in the last few years due to experiencing skin cancer. This one is a quality product, well constructed, with a brim size wide enough to keep the sun off your face, but not so wide that it would be cumbersome moving through the woods. The brown hat is an appropriate color for hunting as it blends well in the woods.” — FranF, Pocono Mtns.
“I took my family and a friend’s family on the Colorado River for a three-day river rafting trip. I only had baseball caps to wear. After the first day, my ears, neck, and cheeks were toast. My buddy kindly loaned me his Cabela’s River Guide hat for the next two days – it was GREAT! I stayed cool and kept the sun off of all the areas my cap couldn’t.” –Gilpin, CO
“This headgear has proven to be exceptional quality and value [and is] currently proving its worth on a farm [in] Zambia. Excellent through the last of the rains… and is now keeping the sun and the dust away from a what was formerly a hot-headed farmer. The hat [is] very light-fitting, sits easily, and stays put, even in open vehicles.” — Adfather, Zambia
Packable Yellowstone Breezer Hat — $29.95
Cabela’s Yellowstone Breezer Hat (item IJ-951344) is a comfortable design, very popular with backpackers, beach-goers, and anglers. The specially-treated fabric offers oustanding sun protection, with a UPF 50+ factor.
This hat is lighter and softer than the River Guide hat, but the brim still holds its shape in the wind. This is a great all-around summer hat that combines light weight with superior sun protection.
“This is the perfect packable hat. Can shove it in a suitcase or wear it and be able to lean back and sleep on a plane. Excellent sun blocking material and a nice wide brim. It is so light you forget you have it on your head which is great if you need the sun protection. Great hat!” — P. Dalton, California
“Extremely good vented hat for the hot, dry California weather.” — C.A., California
Cabela’s Mesh Boonie Hat — Just $5.88
This mesh-top is a great bargain at $5.88 (on sale, item OG-942503). Very light-weight, it can easily be rolled and packed. It doesn’t provide as much sun-protection as the wider-brimmed hats shown above, but then it’s one-fifth the price!
This is a “one size fits most” design, so if you have a very small or very large hat size, you may want to try a different design. Otherwise, it’s a great value. One Cabela’s purchaser, in Sydney, reports: “[This hat offers] Good ventilation for a hot Australian summer. The brim could be wider, but easy to pack and carry.”
