Bauhinia Star by Robert Blain
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JBWKOV2
What do you do when your wife kicks you out of your home and you've got nowhere to live? Well, if your name's Matthew Swain, you live on a boat. It doesn't matter that you don't know anything about the sea or that the person who sold you the craft is dodgy boat dealer Garry Jones. What could possibly go wrong?
Matthew Swain is a devoted father of three, deeply in love with his wife and owner of a struggling English tuition centre in Hong Kong. His world is shattered when he tragically loses his eldest daughter. His life becomes further unhinged when he discovers his wife is having an affair with an ophthalmologist.
Swain is forced to find somewhere new to live and out of sheer desperation comes up with the idea of living on a boat in the local marina. While fighting his inner demons, Swain also confronts external challenges as the boat almost sinks (twice) and almost blows up (once). Despite the urging of his companions, an immoral boat dealer and a Filipina domestic helper, to loosen up and make a fresh start he unswervingly tries to piece his damaged family back to together.
But unable to consummate his grief for his lost daughter and at the mercy of his capricious wife, Swain is pushed to breaking point until – at the brink of insanity – something has to give.