Coxy – sorry for the late reply.
The picture below shows the 2 patterns I use at Makins for 3 – 5 ft of water.
The one on the left is a typical diamond and I use from 0.2 – 0.35. In the worst conditions, the 0.35 version is very stable and tends to counteract undertow / surface skim whilst still having a good amount of sensitivity.
When conditions allow (today for example – no wind), I always opt for the slimmer version on the right. Whilst still being stable, the sensitivity of this float is spot on. The version you can see is 0.2 and I will happily fish this in 5 ft of water. These particular floats were made with Trewaters (Whiteacres) in mind and to be honest they are cock on for that type of fishing (F1’s) whilst still remaing very strong if you want to target bigger carp with them.
As well as the stability offered via the stems, the other advantage with all of these floats is that they utilise hollow tips which as you probably know makes them easier to see whilst fishing.
BTW – these are NOT MW floats but handmade by someone else.