Cheers Jordie, I'll give it a proper go next time I'm near a lake / pond.
A few more observations:
I was hungry and thirsty, and I found a can of "spite" (lulz). Cured my hunger, not my thirst. Dean could get rich off that.
Zeds are a bastard to lose. I had a few tracking me for ages, lost them eventually but bloody hell, they're like sniffer dogs!
The inventory system is very clever, and that alone is worth upgrading from the mod. I love that different garments have different amounts of pockets and whatnot, very good.
The combat... oh dear. If you've ever fought a zed, you'll know exactly what I mean.
The game at present feels like a case of wait for server restart, rush rush rush to get stuff, then... erm... nothing. no vehicles, no tents, nothing to try and achieve. Once you're all gunned up and have decent kit, the only form of entertainment I can think of is hunting players, which might explain some of the KOS mentality some of you guys are experiencing (and I'll no doubt experience at some point too).
The game feels like the basis of something very good, something excellent, and a game which will probably suck me in for hours and hours on end, but as it is now, it's lacking content. I maintain my opinion that Dean needs to focus on getting stuff to respawn inbetween restarts. Once that's sorted I'd start looking in to storage, the lack of ability to hoard stuff is brilliant for a lone wolf like myself, but I still think it's an awesome goal to work towards. And vehicles. We need vehicles, badly.
Excellent game, needs improvement. Yes, it's an Alpha, I know this, but I felt like blabbering so meh.