Hmmm...

Took off at night on a heading going directly over the ocean. When I hit the
gear up switch, I lost all power to the panel. I circled back, switched off all
electrical except the master and got a flicker of power in the panel but not
enough to work the radio's. I was hoping the generator ('62 Comanche) would
charge up the battery, but when I looked at the amp-meter, the needle was at
zero. Switched the transponder to 7700 (in case I got enought of a charge) and
occasionally tried the radio (and clicked SOS with the PTT), but it when it
became evident that the generator was gone, I lowered the gear manually, swung
by the tower, thought I got a light and came back around to land. Held it off
the runway for as long as I could, but guess the gear hadn't locked and down I
went. 600' later (according to the airport police) I came to a stop, my
passenger and I hopped out, and that, gentlemen, was that.

This happened last Friday night, so there is still no information as to what
went on with the electrical, but given the amp-meter reading 0 with no draw,
it's a pretty good guess that the genny went out. As far as the gear not
locking, with everything going on, it's possible that I hadn't slowed down
enough before releasing the gear and therefore they couldn't lock, though it
would have been nice if they had once I got down to approch speed :-)

Thanks for ALL your suggestions - particularly the portable power supply - that
would have saved the day.

All the best - Fly safe...