Boat Issues After Several Months Away

[kcmarcet]

Hello all, I haven't been checking in here much in the last couple of months because I haven't been sailing in as long, but I did get to go out for a few hours the other day. It was a pretty good day.
The boat has been anchored in the bay here unattended for a couple of months and came through the period pretty much intact and undamaged. Just a couple of minor things maybe some here can give some advise on.
First something airborne must have hit my solar battery maintainer. The glass is broken and seems to be dead now. But the battery still seems to have plenty of power left in it after 2+ months, But now I need to replace it with something else, thinking of a thin film charger. The second thing is the line the is used to raise and lower the kick up rudder, I left the rudder in the water and the line is anchored below the waterline and rotted away, What kind of line should I replace it with? I would think some sort of nylon/polyester line would resist rotting pretty well. The line that was there feels like a cotton cloths line.
Also now thinking of moving the boat to a different anchoring location. There aren't really too many interesting / good places to sail around here in Venice, so I was thinking of moving the boat up to Sarasota Bay or down to Charlotte harbor. But thats just a thought for now.
Thanks for any advise.

[Duke 48]

KC, Sorry, I can't help you with the broken battery maintainer. But, for the rudder line you may want to consider a three strand polyester. The info I have read indicates that for a given size it is not as strong and has less stretch than nylon, yet it is more resistant to abrasion and UV. And I know the New England brand it is softer on the hands. Hope this can help. Duke