I mean talk about 'click bait' in the title right? Well, why am I suddenly questioning the existence of the divine? Well,it's not the way you think. I am actually starting to suspect that my trust in empirical lack of evidence for a grand creator. "Why?" I hear you cry. Well, it surely cannot be correct that one person suffers as much bad luck with a vessel that there not to be some supreme being overseeing it. I mean, that bearded cloud dwelling douchebag must really, REALLY hate me for some reason. No idea why but it has me thinking maybe, just maybe, there is a god. And he/she/it is a bit of a dick...

Now this is a pretty cataclysmic thought for someone whose trust in science, empirical evidence and repeatable experimental process is pretty concrete. However, having been loaded into dry dock, waiting for the storm force winds to abate for about 9 days before being dropped onto blocks, I needed to pressure wash the tube worms off as they'd had a field day whilst in the marina at Portishead. So, I merrily turned up with my flask of tea and marmalade sandwich like a non furry Paddington Bear, donned my waterproofs and fired up the pressure washer. As I merrily waged war on those little tubular toe rags a big flake of black paint lifted and flew off into the air, mocking me as it fluttered to the ground...

Yep, you guessed it, the final coat of the very expensive two pack cost approximately half a kidney to purchase and have 'professionally' applied had decided to part company with the layer underneath. F&ck....

So, after a hurried call to the guys at Jotun and the blasters who applied the paint it turns out that the guy who applied the paint (who is now no longer present in the company) most likely applied the last coat while the coat underneath had moisture on top. The fact the black final coat was backed with some of the red undercoat was the giveaway to those in the know.

Fortunately, the blasters are a decent bunch of guys and have said they will put all the damage right as they had another ship where exactly the same thing had happened by the same guy.

So whilst I sit at home on daddy day care, there is still a fair chunk of the underside of the hull which needs to be stripped as, unfortunately, the hairless Paddington was pretty pooped after a long day spent blasting. However, Steve (the dry dock manager) will be doing some investigation to see if he can find out where the leaks originate. If nothing is forthcoming, then we may use fluorescent dye in water and try to pressurise the void between the plates and force the water out. The last ditch is to use powdered chalk on the outside and then introduce a light fraction of fuel into the void which will then quickly escape by capillary action and show up on the chalk outside. Well, that's the theory.

Most worrying is the leak in the engine room. What I thought was just a thin layer of oil (although to be honest, I had a sneaky suspicion the it was a deeper pool than I hoped) was majority water. I know the sea cock is leaking slightly (due to be repacked to stop that) but is watertight when closed so there are really only 2 other options for the presence of water - there is a leak from the engine (possible although I looked for telltale signs when it was last run and I couldn't see anything above the floor level) or we have a leak in the hull. Neither of which is great.

So, either I am a statistical aberration or whichever deity is up there is screwing with me. I can live with the statistical option so I thumb my nose at them and say stop dicking around to whichever sky fairy is potentially out there. With wars raging, an idiot in the Whitehouse, childhood cancers and all the other crappy things happening out there surely you have better things to do....