I was talking about this sort of thing with some New York Perl Mongers this evening (especially the part about the possibility that nobody accepts the patch).

I like to create subclasses that re-implement the parts that I don't like. It's a bit of work, but if, for some reason, someone decides to update Storable, the subclass is still there. I'm always really nervous about messing with other people's original source, unless I get some indication that they are going to accept the patch.

Good luck!