So, I just bought an '87 Prindle 18 that appears to have been ridden hard and put away wet a few times. The sails seem OK, although I say this because of the considerable tarnish on the brass sail grommets and the tarp grommets. The stainless wire rigging seems to be in perfectly good condition, but the cordage on the boat is either missing or pretty old. So, I'm just going to replace all of it; to that end, I could use some recommendations.

After searching the threads on here on ropes, lines, cordage in general, I've got a couple of questions.

1. I'm a 'recreational' (for the near future anyway) sailor - so I think I can get away with a dacron/polyester rope (eg, Sta-set or ) for just about everything - is there any reason I can't or shouldn't? I know I could also play tennis with an old wooden "Davis Cup" racquet, since I'm not really competitive, but it sure is a lot nicer to play with a modern composite racquet.

2. Is the water-retention/smoothness, etc., worth it to spend a bit more on the sheets for something like XLS-Extra or Yalelight?

3. For the halyard - is there any reason to pay a bit more and get Vectran? Having just read the comments about raising the main by just tipping the boat over, it seems like it really doesn't matter.

get the cheapest stuff you can for the halyard. Stay-set is OK for your control line applications and will hold up well to weathering. It's not as "high performance" but I doubt you will notice the difference. Besides being ever-so-slightly stretchier under load, the handling characteristics of it are not as good as, say, a tapered mainsheet made from V100 (which can easily run in excess of $100)...it is not as flexible, doesn't run through blocks as smoothly, and it's not as comfortable on the hand when really loaded up - but it works. If I were rigging a boat for fartin' around on (like my monohull) I use stay-set, or similar, throughout.