Creating and attaching the walls and trim

The first step to constructing the the side walls was purchasing some plywood.  Unfortunately here in Central America, the selection of wood is pretty poor.  If I was in the States I would buy some oak veneer plywood, but I am limited to some really rough looking 1/2" stuff.  After cutting the pieces to fit the frame I attached the sheets.

Once I had the plywood attached I decided I wanted to go with a different look. So I took the plywood off the frame and sanded it all down and stained each piece.  I ended up applying many coats of stain over a weeks time.  The next step was the trim.  Again I was limited to Central American hardware stores, so I bough the nicest piece of plywood available and had it ripped down to 3" strips.  I then cut those strips to fit around the walls I had previously cut.  I then also stained the trim to match the walls.

With the walls reattached to the frame, I then attached the trim using small finishing nails.  Its important to sink the nails in, so you can fill each nail hole with wood putty.  After the wood putty dried, I carefully sanded down the putty and gave everything one more coat of stain.

Building the base and shell

The first step to building the Cougarator was constructing the base and housing.  Since the freezer could have upwards of 20 gallons of beer, 40 lbs of tile and grout and another 10 lbs of miscellaneous items, it was extremely important the base be very strong. 

We used treated 2x4s and 3" deck screws to build the base.  I also purchased some very have duty casters in order to move it whenever required.  One thing to consider when building the base and frame is most freezers need 3" or more around them to let the heat escape.