Hi bside,
Dis is my first time trying to help out, so here goes:
Try this for your first problem: If you have a normal stroke (real path) object nearby,
1. highlight the 'brushed' object;
2. select the droper tool, your pointer should become a dropper icon now;
3. Place the 'dropper' pointer over the normal path object and click with your mouse.
4. Voila! Your stroked object should now take on the look of the real path (including colour, line weight, etc)
5. Extra tip: It works for text string as well. try it! I had a lot of fun!
For the second problem with the doted lines:
Go to window on the menu bar and make sure you have the Show Stroke window open.
If you can locate it on your desktop, you will notice that there are many options like line weight (i am sure you know this) but on the right hand side are six buttons to choose from. Those combination will determine the look of the ends of the strokes.
Below that is this box for you to check which says 'dashed line'. Select that and you can determine the dashes and gaps you want for the paths you draw (Morse Codes??!?

). Increase the line weight to see what i mean.
Hopefully i didn't confuse the matter and have been of help.
Cheers!
PS: BTW, i am still on AI 9