What gear to you use for sandcrab dillies?

[MulletMan]

I bought some of those bright yellow/purple PVC balls that have a cutaway in them for storing the line but they are pretty hard to control as they tend to roll everywhere.
What do you guys reckon are the best?
I am starting to think the humble old 2 Litre milk bottle is pretty hard to beat as they are free and easy to replace plus have a handle and lots of room for the name and rope.
Long ago I placed a small S/S shackle under the cork knot at the top of the dilly and with a snap shackle on the end of the rope find it extremely easy to drop the dilly free and wind up the rope onto the float/bottle when finishing up the last run.
Are the witche's hats still the best (tangles et all) or do you find the newer mesh pots are better?

[fish2eat]

If you are sure there are just sandies around, the cheap whitches hat dillies are great, with a 2litre milk bottle. If there are muddies around as well, use a mesh pot otherwise the muddies will rip the witches hats to shreds.

[sf17fisherman]

i find better catches down here useing the dilles for both muddies and sandies
i use the dilly and have a good amount of roap to it (most people think their traps are stolen when they have just floated way i see it alot)
for the float i use meduim bouys
heaps easyer to see than milk cartons so less likely to get run over and makes finding them a bit easyer ;)

[NeilD]

The number of sunken milk containers is a problem as they degrade with UV exposure and are prone to damage from sharp objects. At least have a small solid foam float on the line to keep it up if the bottle leaks

[tiny_tinny]

Gidday,

I use a belt-and-braces approach to crab pot/dilly floats. 2 litre milk bottles are very convenient and you can't complain about the cost, but I also was concerned about leaking or damaged plastic bottles. To reduce the risk of them sinking and losing my pot or dilly, I simply cut strips of foam from fruit boxes or the like, wide enough to just fit down the neck of the milk bottle.

Two or three of these inside the bottle has saved the day at least once. A small split had opened up and the milk bottle float was full of water, but it didn't sink. It sat a bit low in the water, but was still easily spotted.

Regards,

Mike