Getting the outfitting of any piece of kit is pretty critical. We take lots of care and attention padding out our boats but often neglect the kayaking helmets we wear. How many times have you’ve been on a river or at your local play wave and have seen paddlers whos:

Hats move during a capsize
Foreheads are exposed
etc, etc…

I have seen many examples and have often wondered how these paddlers would fare if there head were to be struck by rocks whilst they were capsized. It’s going to hurt at the least.

Unsponsored Lid

Many helmets on the market today are pretty much designed around a particular sized shell and a simple padded liner of some sort. This as it stands will unlikely suit the shape of your head. We need to add additional padding to prevent the helmet from moving and to give greater protection to your head!

Most helmets that are purchased come with some form of additional padding. This is usually sponge type foam or close cell foam, if your helmet did not come supplied with additional padding you’ll need to get hold of some. I usually use 6mm sticky backed foam which can be obtained form your local kayak store or use camping mats and contact adhesive which are both very easy to get hold of.

Obviously the first thing to do with a new lid is to try it on and see how it fits and to try and identify which areas need additional padding if any. Usually some additional padding is need at the sides and/or front/back. Take some of the extra padding and place it inside of the hat to get a feel as to whether or not it’ll do the job. To hold the faom in place while I try the different setups I tend to use electrical tape, it does stick to well to foam so shouldn’t damage the foam liner or the padding you’re trying out. Refrain from sticking anything in at this stage because if you need to rip it out it may damage the hats liner. I tend to start with the sides of the hat as they tend to be the easiest to sort out. Once I’m happy with the fit I stick the foam in place and then tackle the front and/or back of the lid in a similar fashion. Ideally when the chin strap is loose the lid should neither roll from side to side or from front to back.

The front to back roll is a common problem and can be seen when paddlers roll-up and then have to adjust there lids back into position. This can’t always be sorted by applying loads of foam into the helmet – too much foam will give you a cracking headache! I had a problem like this with my first Riot lid. To solve the problem I used a very small strip of 3mm foam stuck in the hat at the point where the lid touched the crown of my head. When worn I couldn’t feel that the foam was there but it did prevent the helmet from sliding back and exposing my forehead to those nasty rocks.

The image below shows a highlighted area within a Riot Helmet where I would use extra padding to prevent “roll back”.

unsp1