hey al swivels are no problem on teh turn overs with me..ive bin using a taped leaderat about 6 ft indi to swivel....as for sink tips your intermediate will be fine..t 6 and 8 are good in swinging down and across situations in teh 9 and 12ft range ive bin messing around with if you are casting more upstream giving the fly more time too sink you may be finding bottom faster...i find it really slows down the swing fishing down with a longer sinktip tho..when im doing some stripping when streamer fishing i use 3 ft of t14 too get it down and have a nice sink on the pause, i find longer sinktips stripping generate more slack and have the flies ride off the bottom a little more....