A couple of my initial reactions to the article:
1. Some of those welds look downright scary (that is to say - even worse than mine).
2. For a budget build article, he sure goes out of his way to buy new parts (and not mention any costs whatsoever).
3. The bottom frame of the trailer steel looks thin in the images. I'm curious as to what gauge steel that is.
4. The new axle tube thickness of 2" .120 wall - seems thin to me as well. What is standard trailer axle tubing? I know the Dana 60 has .500 wall thickness, for example. Seems to me it might be a better idea to simply buy a trailer axle. I'm sure a 3500 pund axle couldn't be all that expensive, nor does a 65" WMS width seem rare or unheard of.
5. The top of the trailer is built to handle 500 pounds - and carry two adults. That math seems a bit off to me. Justin and myself would be pushing 450 pounds by ourselves - before the 135 pounds of tent are factored in to the equation.
6. The 2" ball hitch - in my opinion, an offroad trailer should use a pintle hitch (or a Max Coupler).
Good lord - I just priced out an adventure trailer with all the options - $18,814.67.