Akubra RM (Williams) - Crown Dimensions

[stuart72]

Hi folks,

Many thanks to those that have gone before me and left a ton of useful information. I recently bought an Akubra RM that I intend to reshape so I'll leave a few of the key dimensions here for anyone else that is thinking of doing the same thing.

I've used a bit of steam of course to push out the factory bash and flatten the brim which had a dip at the front and back (very typical for all of Akubra's country hats).

The brim is advertised by RM Williams as 7 cm but others on this forum have written that it's 73 mm, i.e. the same as the Campdraft. I measured mine to be 72 mm so within tolerance for the 73 mm Campdraft spec.

Trying to figure out the crown dimensions of one of these before buying it is a challenge. The RM Williams website lists the crown height as 11 cm! Absolutely not! I didn't have the presence of mind to make my own measurement before I opened up the crown but I have a couple of other Akubra's and it was for sure a good deal more than 11 cm. Anyway I've measured mine to be 160 mm in the open crown state. A full 6.3 inches so quite a bit more than I was expecting and different to what I can find online for a Campdraft. The Akubra website gives the Campdraft crown height as 142 mm and the Hatsdirect website gives it as 15 cm. Either way it seems that the RM is 10 to 20 mm taller than a typical Campdraft which is not what I was expecting to find. From looking at photos it also seems to me that my RM has a rounder shaped crown whereas Campdrafts seem to be flatter across the top. This would explain at least some of the extra height in the RM so I'm guessing that Akubra is not using the Campdraft blocks for the RM. As an aside I was planning on trying my hand at a pinch centre dent bash but all of this extra feltand the m ore rounded shape of the crown may work against me and mean that I need to give it a teardrop or something similar.

I also took a measurement over the top of the crown from one side to the other. It's a size 59 and I measured the brim to brim to be 42 cm.

Anyway I'll see how it goes and will probably post another couple of photos when I've finished the rebash to show what I found to be workable.

I will add also that there is in interesting guy on Youtube who reshaped his RM and it is basically indistinguishable from a regular Campdraft.

 

[RickP]

Hi folks,

Many thanks to those that have gone before me and left a ton of useful information. I recently bought an Akubra RM that I intend to reshape so I'll leave a few of the key dimensions here for anyone else that is thinking of doing the same thing.

I've used a bit of steam of course to push out the factory bash and flatten the brim which had a dip at the front and back (very typical for all of Akubra's country hats).

The brim is advertised by RM Williams as 7 cm but others on this forum have written that it's 73 mm, i.e. the same as the Campdraft. I measured mine to be 72 mm so within tolerance for the 73 mm Campdraft spec.

Trying to figure out the crown dimensions of one of these before buying it is a challenge. The RM Williams website lists the crown height as 11 cm! Absolutely not! I didn't have the presence of mind to make my own measurement before I opened up the crown but I have a couple of other Akubra's and it was for sure a good deal more than 11 cm. Anyway I've measured mine to be 160 mm in the open crown state. A full 6.3 inches so quite a bit more than I was expecting and different to what I can find online for a Campdraft. The Akubra website gives the Campdraft crown height as 142 mm and the Hatsdirect website gives it as 15 cm. Either way it seems that the RM is 10 to 20 mm taller than a typical Campdraft which is not what I was expecting to find. From looking at photos it also seems to me that my RM has a rounder shaped crown whereas Campdrafts seem to be flatter across the top. This would explain at least some of the extra height in the RM so I'm guessing that Akubra is not using the Campdraft blocks for the RM. As an aside I was planning on trying my hand at a pinch centre dent bash but all of this extra feltand the m ore rounded shape of the crown may work against me and mean that I need to give it a teardrop or something similar.

I also took a measurement over the top of the crown from one side to the other. It's a size 59 and I measured the brim to brim to be 42 cm.

Anyway I'll see how it goes and will probably post another couple of photos when I've finished the rebash to show what I found to be workable.

I will add also that there is in interesting guy on Youtube who reshaped his RM and it is basically indistinguishable from a regular Campdraft.

I had one RM that too was almost indistinguishable from an older Campdraft I had. Then I picked up a Campdraft Deluxe and the crown was noticably taller ( almost 1/2" taller) Nice hat but Im still trying to get used to the tall crown

 

[stuart72]

Thanks Rick.

A couple of photos here after the reshaping. It did turn out that I couldn't figure out how to make a centre dent work. I think this is because of the rounded open crown shape and the memory in the felt from the factory bash, it was just an instant "no" in terms of clearance for my head. A teardrop worked ok though so that's what it has.

I'm also finding that it doesn't really fit as well as my other Akubras. I have a Banjo and a Cattlemen, all in the same size but I find that the Banjo/Cattleman hats with their factory shape make a very snug fit that I can feel all around my head. The RM on the other hand feels tight at the front/back and loose on the sides. I also found that despite the 6.3" open crown I've still used up all of the available internal space and had to raise the height of the shaping after my first attempt in order to make space for myself.

I learned from my Cattleman hat that I have a taller than average scone. I've included a photo here as well. For those who also own a Cattleman you'll probably notice from the photograph that the bubble in the teardrop is quite a bit higher than usual and spoils the shape a bit. I actually had it even higher than this but then pulled it down a bit and will wear the hat slightly higher on my head. I'm walking a fine line trying to get it to work but I've learned a few lessons and will likely only go for open crown hats in the future.

I've been impressed by the Cattleman's colour though. It's a limited edition Fern but I found that the colour is a lot closer to an olive drab which is a good thing. It's a good match for the foliage here (Australia) so it'll be good for camping/hunting etc., which is the reason why I got it.