Charltanc

2 weeks ago, all my 5 forward speeds of my Minn Kota endura 30 suddenly stopped working while I was on a small lake. So I reversed connected the trolling motor battery cables to the battery, and turned the handle to reverse and actually was able to get home going forward in my boat. So I knew it was a switch problem. I replaced the switch and the motor was like brand new. However, on my third time boating with the new switch, suddenly I could not reverse on any one of the 3 speeds. This means the new switch is broken again but this time with the reverse speeds. Does an old motor (2004 model) cause a switch failure more often? Could one add a fuse and prevent frequent switch failure?