Ed,
The problem is in drilling through the anodizing. The spool only has a thin coat of anodizing which protects against corrosion, so once you drill through the annodizing, the bare metal is exposed to corrosion. I think if I just soak the thing in corrosion X or something before I stick it on the reel, and after every trip scrub the holes with corrosion X it'll be ok. I'll probably drill most of the holes as close to the middle of the spool as I can because if they're up next to the rim of the spool water can get into the sideplate just with everyday use, but if they're down toward the center the line will be covering them for most of the time and act as a water guard. If I can have at least 1/4, 1/2" between the rim and the first hole, it should be aight. I'll definitely talk to Eric about this and experiment on my jigmaster before I do anything drastic.
-Brian