# Cracked Shred Ready Carbon Half Cut



## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

I flipped this weekend and hit my head on a rock on the way over. Once we stopped for a rest, I checked my gopro and helmet for damage. 

The Helmet took some damage. The Resin Laminate was cracked in several places and some chipped off the ridge/seem that goes around the helmet. 

My questions are: 

1. Should I get a new Helmet? 
2. Can this be repaired? 
3. How would you recommend making the repair. 

Are Kayaking helmets made from the type of foam that is one and done. I cant find any info on this. 

I know in the Mountain Bike world... helmets are a one and done. One crash and the foam is considered damaged and should not be reused after the hit. 

Thanks for reading... 

Wook


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## SouthernSun (Mar 31, 2010)

Good questions. I know how to repair carbon and fiberglass. Seems to me that most kayaking helmets try to dissipate the energy as opposed to bicycle helmets that try to absorb the energy. I think it depends on how much damage was done to the helmet, as it just may not be worth it to repair. If in doubt, get a new lid.


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## brandob9 (Jun 13, 2010)

I'd say that the structure of that helmet is compromised. For $100 for another SR, I'd call it a day.


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## Nessy (May 25, 2009)

Carbon structures tend to fail catastrophically. If you see some cracking, the actual damage may be more extensive meaning that a second hit could be unmitigated by the shell. FYI, plastic isn't as cool but it can take repeated hits without being compromised.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

Number one post pics to the thread not album.. Number two buy another helmet


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*Thanks....*

Here's the Pic


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## TonyM (Apr 17, 2006)

New helmet. Glad you're alright.


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## MikeThulin1972 (Mar 23, 2012)

I work for a outfitter out east and have 2 SR helmets myself.. A buddy of mine has a full face black gold carbon helmet with some carnage .. And while talking with SR rep he said as long as the inner foam panel is intact and it's not that bad damage... Just repair it like fiberglass and go...with carbon of course..


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## MikeThulin1972 (Mar 23, 2012)

Just looked at pic.... Fix it .., don't buy a new...


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*I am considering fixing it for sure...*

As long as I can make a proper repair. I will see what S R has to say about repairing the laminate. I am also wait to here back from Shred Ready about Crash replacemnet.....



Thanks for the input everyone.


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## adgeiser (May 26, 2009)

the foam is multi impact in kayak helmets.
but the structural integrity of your shell is toast.
.... buy a new helmet.

i cracked a SR full face last year on my 1st run with the helmet, we did not notice the crack till the takeout. one of my paddling buddies was saying how that sucks. the whole 1 run and done thing. my reply was Nope. i'm here talking and laughing about it.

take the broken helmet any day. glad you are ok.

ps, i used it to talk my wife into allowing me to get the sweet full face.


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*Funny...*

Im looking at Sweet Helmets as we speak. I like the Rocker. It seems to me that this would not have happened with the softer shell of the rocker.

But yeah.... I agree, the cost of a helmet is a small price to pay to be able to paddle tomorrow.


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## MikeThulin1972 (Mar 23, 2012)

Fix it and go.....


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*I hope I can dude...*

I Dont want to drop the coin on a new one. I kinda need a new paddle and would rather the money went to that.


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## MikeThulin1972 (Mar 23, 2012)

I would be surprised if they say scrap it but who knows...the guy I know who reps for them is a pretty reliable guy...
Spencer Cooke is his name...look him up .. Should be easy if you have e Eric seen a LVM video ?


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## TonyM (Apr 17, 2006)

Sell the cracked one to mikethulin1972 and use the cash to buy a new helmet. It's your head. Where your brain lives.


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*Thanks for he Info Mike*

I will check him out and see what he says.


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

Not trying to be a smartass, but I thought carbon was supposed to be stronger than plastic. If it damages just as easy, why is it so much more expensive? I'm in the market for a new helmet. Should I get plastic rather than carbon?


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

Good point. Cant paddle much with out your brain.


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*Buy Nice or Buy twice...*

Your not being a smart ass at all.....I had the same philosophy. I thought carbon was stronger as well. Thats why I went with the best they had to offer. I figured, as a newb, I would be bashing my head alot. Thats why I got the Carbon. I didnt think it would have broke after one hit like that. 


Im not sure how this helmet would have handled a serious hit, like from a drop or an impact out of the water at a high speed.


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## SummitSurfer (Jun 23, 2010)

It's your head! U only got one! U wanna take chances with a helmet? Buy yourself peace of mind....buy yourself a new helmet!


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## hlbyr398 (Apr 6, 2012)

WRSI!


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

I'm a noob as well and looking for more bang for my buck. If plastic is cheaper and can take multiple hits, sounds like a no brainer to me. As i slide into my forties, cool factor means little to me. I'm rocking a knock-off pro-tekt now.


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*Im with you Bryan...*

I like bang for my buck too. Thats what I thought I was getting. I will keep everyone up to date on what Shred Ready says and where I go from there.


Sounds like a new lid. I like piece of mind for my mind.


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

Yeah. Better safe than sorry. I'd appreciate being kept up to date with their response. If anyone else has advice on brands and styles that would be appreciated too. My one hit wonder hasn't even taken a hit and is already falling apart.


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## SummitSurfer (Jun 23, 2010)

I have a WRSI helmet, recently a friend bought herself a nice carbon helmet...beautiful! We were both out on the river and ended up both takening some good head shots to our helmets from rocks. Mine, plastic scrapped and didn't look like much damage. My friends helmet took a similar hit and it destroyed the cosmetic look of the helmet which made it look really damaged....case in point, I think plastic maintains its integrity better and wears better to river abuse....and half the price. So I would say unless your doing a video shoot with Tyler Bradt or one of the Jackson's and your not going to be on the cover of Rapid magazine....I'd go for form, function, comfort, safety, and price and leave the carbon for Le Tour De France.


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

Last time I saw a 39 year old noob on any magazine cover was....... never


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

...so I think I'll go with plastic.


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## BAER (Nov 28, 2007)

I'm a 34 year old noob?! i hit my head a couple times a year and try to paddle the best white water on earth. I have my choice on helmets and WRSI invited me to wear there carbon helmet this year. I have and will wear a plastic multi impact helmet that stays on my head well. The carbon is light but destroys itself in the first impact. Stay with the cheap? plastic and paddle hard. A couple other notes, don't use a full face, is your face more important than hearing and being heard?... Think about your buddy screaming to you that you are about to enter a siphon but all you hear is gabaly **** because he is screaming into a full face. Second NO vent holes, yes vents are nice if it's supper hot out, but if your pinned, it is supper nice to have NO vents, and a small brim to let the rivers flow cascade over your face. I'm also a fan of stark white, it can be seen in almost mo light situations. Just my opinion, I like my head.


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## abron (Nov 19, 2004)

My .02... another vote for WRSI. and earplugs. (shameless plug for earplugs. theyre crucial...)
the WRSI full face, nonvented helmet is my next purchase. had one regular vented WRSI since they came out and offered em for $40 or $50 bucks in 2006 . I have had some good hits and its held up fine. And because I wear earplugs, I don't count on hearing well in rapids. got to hopefully use visual cues cause rapids are loud no matter what. I still have about 50% hearing with the cheapy rubber 'xmas tree' earplugs anyhow.

Baer has a good point about vents not blocking the water as well. I havent been pinned too long yet, (knock on wood) and I am not a class V paddler. Class IV mank in NM is plenty pinny at lowwater...(got on the Red, santa cruz, numbers, and upper canyon embudo at 2.5' this year :mrgreen 

Also.... theoretically Vents could catch on rock spurs and hurt your neck rather then slide across them. I dont know if thats what happened, but i got a 'stinger' this summer where my head hit unexepectedly as i tucked up to roll, and either it was a hard impact, or my neck was relaxed too much, but it wrenched my neck back and made light flash in my head, although i didnt have any loss of CSM..(sensation) it scared theF#$k out of me, hurt, and my neck was sore for a month. hell its still sore. but i am here to talk about it... so the helmet did its job, and doesn't look much worse for the wear...couple good gouges.

so yeah I recommend WRSI unless they dont fit ya....:mrgreen: 
or you got top dollar for a sweet helmet.
And Yes I also vote to retire any protective gear that has structural cracks that big.and i wouldnt buy that brand again. and in fact i didn't...after the shred ready scrappy that i had that was as about as good as one of those helmets you used to get ice cream in at baseball games. i.e...not...


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## g.soutiere (Jul 7, 2009)

I have always been told with any helmet ( bike, ski, motorcycle, kayak, etc...) one hard impact and its time to replace. Also replace after five years as the foam degrades. My philosophy and $.02


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## Theophilus (Mar 11, 2008)

hlbyr398 said:


> WRSI!


+ 1 Great Helmets.


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

BAER said:


> I'm a 34 year old noob?! i hit my head a couple times a year and try to paddle the best white water on earth. I have my choice on helmets and WRSI invited me to wear there carbon helmet this year. I have and will wear a plastic multi impact helmet that stays on my head well. The carbon is light but destroys itself in the first impact. Stay with the cheap? plastic and paddle hard. A couple other notes, don't use a full face, is your face more important than hearing and being heard?... Think about your buddy screaming to you that you are about to enter a siphon but all you hear is gabaly **** because he is screaming into a full face. Second NO vent holes, yes vents are nice if it's supper hot out, but if your pinned, it is supper nice to have NO vents, and a small brim to let the rivers flow cascade over your face. I'm also a fan of stark white, it can be seen in almost mo light situations. Just my opinion, I like my head.


If you adjust your full face helmet and it fits correctly the chin-guard sits below your mouth, or at least it does with my friends Shred Ready ff helmet and my WRSI Moment. I have no problem seeing or hearing the words coming out of their mouth.

I think a lot of people don't adjust and fit their helmets correctly resulting in bad communication and hits to the forehead.


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

Wow. Great feedback. And thanx for chiming in g.s. My bike helmet is going on five years old( i know, ride harder).


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## mcfarrel (Apr 1, 2006)

Someone once told me a full face was not recommended for the river because of potential neck injuries as a result of dragging your face on the bottom or catching the face guard on something


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

Until I see or hear first hand about someone with a neck injury from a full face I'll keep wearing one. 

I've witnessed 2 people bust out their front teeth with a regular helmet and I bloodied my bottom lip once kissing a rock when flipping in a regular helmet. 

So when it comes down to conjecture vs. reality - I choose to roll with a fullface.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

Full faces have there places, on run with zero syphones. Seriously though gonna rock mine cause I don't feel like breaking my face on my kayak by boofing something to big.
Def dont need to wear it on normal river run just steep creeking


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## brandob9 (Jun 13, 2010)

Jensjustduckie said:


> Until I see or hear first hand about someone with a neck injury from a full face I'll keep wearing one.
> 
> I've witnessed 2 people bust out their front teeth with a regular helmet and I bloodied my bottom lip once kissing a rock when flipping in a regular helmet.
> 
> So when it comes down to conjecture vs. reality - I choose to roll with a fullface.


To keep talking on that point, any time you catch the chin guard on something hard enough to wrench your neck is also a time you would have busted out some teeth. 

I've never had it happen to me, or even heard of that in real life. Like Jens said, I've also seen plenty of prime cuts and bloodied noses with people who go open face. 

Over time, this might turn into something like the open vs closed face debate for race car drivers. They went from being normal to just plain banned on the basis of being too much risk, especially after Dale Earnhardt's death. Of course no one on the river is going to bar you from selecting an open faced helmet, but I think the uptake rate will just gradually approach 100% sooner than later.


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## KSC (Oct 22, 2003)

Just a couple of thoughts from semi-authoritative information I've managed to dig up. On shell materials, from what I've read, a good composite is generally better than ABS plastic. By good, I don't mean that it has better durability, I mean that it provides better impact protection. 

The most common thought process seems to be that a stiffer outer shell is safer because it will dissipate the blow across a wider area of the inner foam shell (which is where most of your protection comes from). This is especially true if you impact a pointy object. A composite shell cracking is not always a bad thing in my opinion, as the destruction of the material absorbs some of the force. I don't know how much difference this actually makes in practice and is probably open to some debate. I figure a good plastic shell with a well constructed multi-impact foam liner (like EPP) that properly fits your head is likely suitable, but I've personally decided to pay for the composite shell in hopes of gaining a little extra impact protection. If I end up with a concussion, I'd like to know that I did everything possible ahead of time to prevent it, even it made my pocket $100 lighter.

Have you picked up a carbon composite helmet? Those suckers are light and I figure one of the selling points of carbon helmets is the ability to retain their protective attributes while being light weight. It doesn't matter as much for a playboat helmet since they're smaller by nature, but man it's nice having something lighter when you've got a full face.

The "full face" debate has raged many times and I have to say I thought it was pretty much dead (like the ski helmet debate). Go to your local creek and maybe on a lucky day, you'll see one or two beach boys still sporting a non-full face. But hell, even Forrest is rocking the full face helmet now and has a story about getting deforrested on the Source where he would have likely been knocked unconscious without his full face. Ask him about it at Bailey Fest!

That's the bottom line for me. The full face protects a knock out point, and being knocked unconscious in your boat isn't cool. I do like to be able to talk and drink and spit with more ease, but I'll take the compromise, unless I'm running something more mellow where I'm not worried about taking hits. 

As for the face mask snag debate, one could envision the possibility, but it's almost impossible to find someone that actually has heard of an underwater face mask snag. I think Kent or someone has some story about getting snagged on a branch while upright, but that's the only one I've been able to drum up since I started boating. However, there are a plethora of stories of bashed noses, jaws, teeth, eyes, cracked orbital lobes, etc.


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## jmack (Jun 3, 2004)

Complaining that you cracked your carbon helmet is like complaining that the air bags in your car went off in a head-on collision. If you hit your head hard enough to break your helmet and your head is OK, then BUY ANOTHER ONE.

As for the full face debate, I thought this was over too. If you never paddle low volume creeks, then I guess you don't need one, but if you are planning on paddling colorado mank (or mank anywhere else), a full face is definitely safer.


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## abron (Nov 19, 2004)

KSC said:


> Just a couple of thoughts from semi-authoritative information I've managed to dig up. On shell materials, from what I've read, a good composite is generally better than ABS plastic. By good, I don't mean that it has better durability, I mean that it provides better impact protection.
> 
> The most common thought process seems to be that a stiffer outer shell is safer because it will dissipate the blow across a wider area of the inner foam shell (which is where most of your protection comes from). This is especially true if you impact a pointy object. A composite shell cracking is not always a bad thing in my opinion, as the destruction of the material absorbs some of the force. I don't know how much difference this actually makes in practice and is probably open to some debate. I figure a good plastic shell with a well constructed multi-impact foam liner (like EPP) that properly fits your head is likely suitable, but I've personally decided to pay for the composite shell in hopes of gaining a little extra impact protection. If I end up with a concussion, I'd like to know that I did everything possible ahead of time to prevent it, even it made my pocket $100 lighter.
> 
> ...





jmack said:


> Complaining that you cracked your carbon helmet is like complaining that the air bags in your car went off in a head-on collision. If you hit your head hard enough to break your helmet and your head is OK, then BUY ANOTHER ONE.
> 
> As for the full face debate, I thought this was over too. If you never paddle low volume creeks, then I guess you don't need one, but if you are planning on paddling colorado mank (or mank anywhere else), a full face is definitely safer.


Good stuff. KSC learnin' us....:mrgreen:


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## g.soutiere (Jul 7, 2009)

jmack said:


> Complaining that you cracked your carbon helmet is like complaining that the air bags in your car went off in a head-on collision. If you hit your head hard enough to break your helmet and your head is OK, then BUY ANOTHER ONE.
> 
> My point if you hit your head hard enough you see stars, or say banner that was a good hit, etc ... than its time to get a new helmet( No matter the material.). If you drop a motorcycle helmet at the store you have to buy it ( possible compromise ). Your brain is worth more than a few hundred bucks a year That goes for any and every helmet.
> 
> ...


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## timtam (Sep 30, 2009)

I'm getting my Master's in composites right now. Doesn't look to me like you have fiber damage ...just matrix cracking. (Then again, I can only tell so much from looking at a pic) Slap some epoxy on it. That will serve as a protective coating for the CF. Keep an eye on it, but from the looks of it you haven't compromised the structural integrity of the helmet. Now, another hit in that same spot and I may change my tune. SR will tell you to buy another one for liability reasons. Ultimately, your head your decision! Good luck.


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## SummitSurfer (Jun 23, 2010)

I have the WRSI plastic helmet and attachable face guard. When I playboat I remove the full face, when I'm river running especially this shallow water season I throw on my full face!!! Partially cause my brace sucks and my combat rolls are da bomb! Ha ha. 
So I recommend this two in one helmet! Helmets less than $100 and attachable face is $35.....win win!


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## BryanS. (Jun 22, 2012)

Nice. I like the sound of that.


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## Wookie Kayak (Mar 2, 2012)

*Update....*

I Called Shred Ready. I was able to talk to Tom. (Awesome Guy). He confirmed what many of you had stated here.

If the Hit on the helmet was strong enough to damage the laminate, the foam would have been compromised as well. The helmet did its job.

He proceeded to tell me about there Crash Replacement Program. All I need to do now that I contacted them is send them the helmet and for 100.00 my cost, my helmet will be replaced.

All in all, I am pretty stoked. Their customer service lived up to the hype and so did their product.

Consider me another Happy, Shred Ready wearing Dirtbag.


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## us338386 (Nov 8, 2007)

Got to keep this thread alive.....

Full face doesn't fully protect the face. Not even close. We have this very low volume bob sled run through a 10 foot wide slot canyon called the Kadunce on the superior shore. Right before a 15 footer called mandatory piton you are cooking and have the potential to hit the wall as it banks. Hard. I had a direct hit forcing my paddle straight at the chin. It rode up the jaw and directly hit my lower lip. Big fat bloody lip. Once in the eddy I noticed the guy in front of me had a split bloody brow. Same exact spot. Paddle hit for him too. 

Both have ff shred ready. I suppose it's likely the helmet protected from much worse carnage. 

Another guy here paddles with a full face hockey helmet with cage. Looks odd, but he insists it's much safer. Says they actually are tested to a higher level than our fancy kayak lids. 

So I return to my desk job and everyone commented on my new goatee since it was so symmetrical and shaded just right......

I was at dicks last week and noticed cascade makes a really nice (minimally caged) lacrosse helmet. I wonder if it'd work for kayaking? I'd be a buyer for sure.


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## Cphilli (Jun 10, 2010)

cascade helmets were used for kayaking long before being converted into lacrosse helmets.


Loved my WRSI non full face until I took another boat to my unprotected temple and fractured my face in 3 places. Next helmet will probably be the WRSI fullface, they just fit my noggin better than anything else.


Its all personal preference as to what you feel adequately protects your eggshell.


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