Double-brim adventure hats

[enigmata-wood]

I have my own theory about these hats. There's mention of them being doubled to make them more rigid, and that they were an alternative to the pith helmet. The pith helmet was invented not just to protect against heat, but against things, such as coconuts, falling out of jungle cover. Possibly there was the idea of some little protection in hand-to-hand combat. I suggest a rigid, double thickness hat might do likewise.
It's an action hat for someone expecting... the unexpected.

 

[Dave Kellum]

Lately I've been in a craze for watching safari and adventure classics. You really can't go wrong with films like "The Secret of the Incas" with Charlton Heston. Something I've noticed in some of these films is that some of the wide-brimmed safari hats these manly adventurers are wearing have double-brims. (When I first saw them, I could have sworn they were wearing two hats!) I don't really know half as much as I'd like to on the subject, so I'd like to hear anything anybody has to say about double brims. I haven't found one single scrap of information in all of my searches, so I'd very much like to be educated!

First- how were they constructed? That is, I've never seen one of these off of somebody's head.
Second- why was this practice done? Wouldn't the extra felt make the wearer hotter?
Third- how commonly were these hats worn?
Fourth- does anybody have one of these specimens? I'd very much like to see detailed photos.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I'm worse off than a novice on the subject, as I'm only scarcely sure that I'm not really looking at men wearing two hats...Oh, and if this is one of those things where there'd be a mountain of information available if I only knew the right words to search, or I have the wrong name, I'd like to know what this double-brimming practice was called. Sorry if this question has already been answered.

I am having a local hatmaker make mine

 

[belfastboy]

I am having a local hatmaker make mine

I think I have seen Mike at Northwest Hats show a model he made.