Charles,
Sorry to hear about the loss of your kayak and of course your friend's barn. I am glad to hear that despite such an incident no one was hurt and many things are turning out OK. Once your are over all this initial shock I would bet that you'll be chomping at the bit to build another armed with all the knowledge gained so far on this one. My kayak had a small accident in early December and I had to put the project on hold (mainly because of lack of indoor working space and work) but I am now even more determined to finish it--my initial shock and anger are gone and are replaced with patience and determination.
I wish you well and hope that you'll find a new working spot and when the time is right make that kayak that you know you can. In the meantime have fun skiing and climbing.

Later,

Tony

PS--I can relate to the loss of that facial hair courtesy of a deep fryer at a restaurant I worked for way back when. For a few weeks after I flinched every time I had to light it.

: Lost eyelashes, beard and some hair... Ego suffering a bit, as well...

: > How close were you when the kero went?

: Right there - I was just standing up from squatting over it.

: > Still got yer eyebrows?

: Oddly, yes. Maybe the aerodynamics of my cap helped save them - or maybe it
: was pushed down low enough to cover them! But, as I said, no eyelashes...
: The plus side to that is that they don't rub on the lenses of my glacier
: glasses any longer

: So some of these stories, or at least parts of them, come out fine in the
: end!

: Thanks. But, really, everything is turning out pretty well. Other than the
: yak and the barn he didn't lose anything important (like, the 1960's go
: cart that he has which was right in the middle of the area that burned
: came out of it with 3 flakes of ash on it! I know, that has more
: sentimental value than anything, but it is really cool!). I mean, the
: ceiling to his shop is gone, but all of his tools (and he has a lot of
: them) made it through it! He also says that his insurance company is
: really good so the few things that are lost should be replaced and the
: barn rebuilt easily enough...

: But, how do I place a value on my yak? What is my time worth and how much of
: it did I spend? Hmm. Yeah and hmm. Hmm and yeah...

: Well, I'm going skiing, is that close enough? Oh, and I got a huge load of
: climbing holds in the mail today (_incredible_ sale at sierra trading)...
: Maybe I'll work a bit on my climbing wall...

: thanks again and cheers!
: c