I have a Keppler and it has the plastic. I would take the liner out and look in the back to see if it will pull apart from the stitching. More than likely it will. If not, you may have to do a little sewing like I did.
The big reason why I want to do this is because I don't want my head to fry while wearing my fedora. During the summer, I was wearing my Fed around downtown Minneapolis and my head was just pouring sweat. I would imagine that taking off the plastic liner would help me out a bit.
I don't know about the Akubras, but my Christy's liner had the plastic and it was very easy to take off. I just got a Swiss Army knife and cut a slit into the plastic and tore it in half. After that, I gently pulled the plastic out and it just came off at the seam. Very easy.
Why not just remove the whole liner? It will keep your head much cooler than just removing the plastic cap. Removing the liner would be much easier, too. IMO.
I am no expert in hats my any means (really), but wouldn't removing the entire liner ruin the hat... somehow? As I wrote this, I began to wonder... what does the liner actually do? (See... I have no idea about anything when it comes to hats!).
I don't think removing the liner would not damage your hat. Truth of it is, I don't know what the purpose is of a liner. I have a theory on what the liner is for. My guess is to keep sweat from seeping through the hat and leaving it stained. I could be wrong, though.
Look at your liner after wearing your hat for a couple of months. If you live in the aht like most of us do, its pretty dirty. Now, wouldn't you want all that stuff on something replacable rather than the hat itself? The liner keeps all the sweat and grime frome your hair off the hat.
We talked about it in a different thread, wearing my Fed in the summer, with that plastic thing was horrible. It is like head is in the oven with no air circulation whatsoever. This summer was very hot in here - up to 30+ *C. So i decided to make a surgery. Very gently i cut the plastic thingy aroung the edges and it is much better now. Then on a one day i went hiking, and rain was pooring, i mean hat was soaked wet, brown paint started to pour out of it and it looked like amazonian river bash , but my head was dry. So my advice is cut it. ;-)
I have tried wearing a felt hat in Central America (Costa Rica) and it was far too hot. You may well be better off taking either a cotton hat such as a Tilly, or a straw Panama.
I'd be happy to post a pic of my favorite cotton sombrero, but just can't figure out how to include a photo here.
Best regards, Ken.[/img]