I feel like a bit of a boob.. I turned brown out detection back on, set it to 2.7volts and also enabled power up timer. Now it resets like a charm.
I didnt need to try the reverse diode trick. For some reason, when I first started playing with the low voltage PIC I couldn't get it to work with BOD, maybe I just had it set too high.
Although I still have to work on my power circuitry for my final design so that its protected from things like over voltage and reverse battery (I accidentally smoked some wirewrap wire doing the later).
Anywho, thanks for the ideas. I'll definately be around the forums, it seems like a pretty cool place.
BTW, JustDIY, you're website is awesome, a true inspiration for a site that I'd like to start on in the coming months.