Island Hopper trolling motor speed control replacement

Want to see if anybody had any experience working with Island Hopper trolling motors?
I just acquired a used 55lb thrust kayak Mount motor what the speed control is fried on it.
 I've contacted the manufacturer / distributor. I've asked them for help on the wiring and or troubleshooting and they've been near useless. I've been able to test the motor to confirm it does run still. And I swapped out the speed control for a working man Kota speed control I have on another trolling motor. My current issue is the island Hopper motor is supposed to have 5 speeds forward 3 in reverse but when I hook up the Minn Kota speed control I end up with 3 Ford to reverse with dead spots in between.
Want to see if anybody had any experience with Island Hopper or any similar issues that I'm having.
 Thanks
 J. Ice

Consider replacing it with a digital controller that will save battery on lower speed settings.

Ultimately that would be long term goal. Right now i want adjustability with a std. Controller.

I've played around with the Minnkota motors quite a bit.  The regulators(unless you have the digital regulator), are simply resistors which lower the output voltage for each speed so there's not much to "fry" if you get the wiring wrong. 

That being said, its really just a bunch of trial and error in your situation.  For the minnkotas there are four wires (red, white, yellow), and the negative which is black.  Make sure you have the negative hooked up properly, and then try hooking up every different combination of the red/white/yellow to the different positions on the switch and you should find one that works. 

btw, you don't need a 55lb thrust on a kayak, 30lb will do and last much longer on a battery charge. 

Right on thanks for the advice I was more or less where I was going to go next but I thought I'd ask yes 55lb is a lot!! Do those darn pedal drives a run for their money I might switch it out and chop down the shaft of all in my 35 min qoutes and then sell the 55 to the pedal drive guys just so they can stay ahead.
Thanks again I'll report back when I get it figured out
 J. Ice