For those who might be interested, other than having to manually deal with writing to the EEPROM Data memory (maybe this is the case for ALL bootloaders?), this turns out to be a very nice little bootloader app. And best of all it's FREE.

http://www.etc.ugal.ro/cchiculita/so...bootloader.htm

It was very easy to set up and (surprisingly to me) worked on the first try with a PIC18F2525. I simply had to add the Loader Define in my PBP source file:

#DEFINE LOADER_USED 1

I used the same MAX232 circuit shown on Mechanique's site. I had already built that circuit intending to buy the MCS bootloader (until I found the free one). I did not include the optional Reset portion of the circuit since I was already using the MCLR pin. All works fine without it. Even the USART TX/RX pins are pulling double duty as normal I/O pins when the PIC's main program is running. And leaving the MAX232 connected does not affect anything. So I now have in-circuit programming capability without giving up any I/O lines or having to use any jumpers. VERY SLICK. I guess I am a "bootloader convert" now.

Thank you to those who answered my bootloader questions earlier.