Ok. We actually did manage to figure it out. For reference here's what we did:
Instead of setting up the columns as one repeatable subform, we put all 5 columns on as seperate (not repeatable) items. We used the same id for all 5 of them so they auto-index themselves as (column[0], column[1], etc). Then we bound the schema to the fields in all 5 of the columns. So each field in each column had a binding to node.repeatableNode[*].whatever_value. Then the larger subform that all of those columns reside in, is set to repeatable.
LiveCycle automatically fills those "columns" one at a time because of their indexing. When it gets past five, it repeats the entire subform (which HAS to have five columns) but only fills the neccesary columns as it continues.
Ask a funky question, get a funky answer. But it works.
Ryan D. Lunka
Cardinal Solutions Group
rlunka@cardinalsolutions.com