Bongo Fury

After using a 12 volt hairdryer (dont bother they are useless!) in the lighter socket it no longer works. I have checked all the fuses in both fuse boxes and all are intact. Any ideas? Would it be safe to rewire the socket directly to the battery using an inline fuse or is there a better solution? Could it be the lighter socket itself?

It could be that the socket has burnt out or even the wiring has melted as I would imagine a hair drier is going to take more current than these are designed for.
You could remove the wires from the back and test with a voltmeter to see if you are getting a feed up to there.

There is no reason at all why you cannot rewire to the battery as long as (like you say) you put a fuse in line.

the wiring for the ciggy socket is very thin ,not for powerful appliances, better to rewire with heavier stuff with an in line fuse as was mentioned.

It might be worth checking the rating of the fuse to the ciggy socket too, it may have been replaced with a higher rated fuse than it should have really ( a common occurrence if the fuse often pops) This of course would place more strain on the wiring when a higher demand is placed on it.

The fuse should be rated at 15A, i replaced mine for a 10A to reduce the chance of wiring meltdown.

I think Daveblueozzie replaced the cabling on his rear socket to take more current.

There is probably a fuse in the haidryer "plug" have you checked it ??

Try plugging somthing else into the socket to see if it's live or dead...You will need the ignition on to do this as it goes dead when you switch off.

Mine goes through the L/B, and is live permanently. Handy when watching a dvd, the film isn't interrupted when i start the engine....