Not so with the Nautilus. The cork is 'free-floating.' What that means is that it uses both sides of the cork, the disc is compressed between two other plates. Virtually doubling the usable surface of the cork. Now take that whole arrangement and seal it inside a chamber, seal it water tight. Nothing to lubricate, nothing to mess with and nothing to go wrong.

I made arrangements with the good people at Old Florida Reels to take one on our trip and used it on some tough bonefish. Of course there was never a problem. I did notice that due to the width of the spool the drag did not seem to change during any backing-smoking runs. My wife, the LadyFisher, with a screaming bonefish on, commented on the "silky smooth" drag of the reel instead of the bonefish! That says something.