We have 8" snubbers on our dipseys also.They act as a shock absorber when bigger fish hit the lure and help keep the fish hooked up when playing the fish.I also believe they help prevent the dipsey from spinning when letting the line out.Been reading a long steelhead thread on OGF and they say the snubber is not enough to prevent line breaking,but the drag has to be set very loose for steelhead.
You can use braid for cranks and dipseys,but the main problem with braid when using the inline boards is that they slip out or through the releases.They make special releases for braid line,like the OR18 by offshore.Or you can wrap the braid around the release to hold it also.