Ruben,
I have now tested Isaacs way and uploaded his code
It turns HTTP into HTTPS but not into HTTPs://www if its not www in the first place.
so ff you test
HTTP://forum.EXAMPLE.com it becomes HTTPs://forum.EXAMPLE.com
and
HTTP://www.forum.EXAMPLE.com it becomes HTTPs://www.forum.EXAMPLE.com
Would it not be best to rule that it becomes HTTPs://www.forum.EXAMPLE.com only???
I know I can set it up in Cloudflare but its a learning process and I want to use my own host to provide the SSL
I have hopes to close the forum tonight and start transition in the morning when I wake up so it would be best to know which code to use in the .htaccess.
Thanks for your input