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What do you use for sled hauling? I have heard of people improvising plastic sleds for sledding, homemade toboggans and expedition sleds designed for hauling.

It would be pretty simple to modify a kiddie sled by riveting T-stock aluminum to the bottom for a pair of runners and creating some kind of pole system with conduit. If you are climbing in the Alaska range they stockpile kiddie sleds with some cords and stuff. It pretty much sucks but is free and shipping or flying with your home made ski pulk would be kind of expensive.

I've done a fair amount of sled pulling using a 'kiddie sled'. But they are not all the same. ON the other hand, they are cheap, like less than $15. So if you want to go that route, here are my prerequisites:

Stiff- the more flex, the more drag as the sled goes over bumps, etc.
Narrow- most sleds are too wide to fit in ski tracks, so in soft snow they are always trying to tip over.
Long- To decrease the tendency to tip, you must not pack your gear more than 5-6 inches high. So to accommodate your gear, it has to be long.
Gentle "angle of attack"- many of the sleds I see have a really blunt nose. This means they plow instead of riding on top of the snow. And the plowing always puts snow inside the sled.

For most terrain, I just attach a rope and something to allow easy lashing. No runners or poles. On the downhills, you can either drop something in front of the sled to work like a brake (knotted rope, inner tube), or 'walk the dog' by holding a short piece of the lead rope at your side.
I also put a bicycle inner tube into the pull line to work like a shock absorber. That keeps the sled from interrupting your ski stride. Then tie the haul line to a belt or fanny pack, and you can pull 50 pounds pretty easily for miles.

Note that sleds suck on side hills. If you anticipate side hills, make sure you can put the whole thing onto your back.

Here's an example where we skied 23 miles in two days:http://www.splattski.com/2012/watson/index.html

Good tips from Splat6ski. Unfortunately, if you are planning on climbing in the AK Range, all the sleds available are the same and are of the type that Splattski warns against. I should mention that if you are hauling a sled on glaciers there are some additional considerations:

-Pack your gear in a sturdy duffel bag
-Attach the pulling cord to the duffel (not the sled) and your pack, rather than your climbing harness. In case of a crevasse fall, you can clip the pack to the rope with a pre-rigged runner attached to the haul loop and be free of the weight of the pack and sled so you can ascend the rope without additional weight.
- Attach the rear of the duffel to the rope between yourself and the climber behind you with a prussic. In case you fall in a crevasse the sled will not follow you and conk you in the head.
- Runners and poles are useful for side hilling and descending.

I like this one:

http://larsonweb.com/blog/?p=888

Sleds can be very frustrating, but there is nothing more cathartic than beating the living crap out of an unruly sled that keeps tipping over.

Unless you are hauling on flat sea ice, I recommend some poles in your harness for better control of the sled. Sleds slide all over the place and tip over constantly. Emotionally there is point where the frustration is not worth it anymore.

Ideally you want to have easy access to your pack while it's in the sled.

The sled fills with snow and your pack zippers/straps freeze, so ideally your sled should have a nylon cover that keeps snow out of the sled.

Make sure your design can be easily repaired in the field, and you have spare parts. Wiring or riveting something together may be "bomber" but if it breaks then it's difficult to repair. Using paracord to tie things together may not last long, but it's easily and quickly repaired when it does break.

A long sled can double as a litter in case someone gets hurt.

I used poles and made a squared-off U-shape design for my sled. The base of the U was attached to the front of the sled with paracord, and the two arms of the U went to my tow belt. I used a padded frame pack waist band for the tow belt. I ran parcord through the poles as a back-up in case a pole broke.

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote: Unless you are hauling on flat sea ice, I recommend some poles in your harness for better control of the sled. Sleds slide all over the place and tip over constantly.

Sea-ice is rarely 'flat' and has plenty of ridges to tip over a badly packed sled. Inland Antarctica is pretty flat, you can get away with a lot and I've found cord much better than poles. It's skiing on slopes and mountain-sides that will tip the best-packed sled and if you're doing a lot of traversing and skiing then poles are OK if you practice skiing with them. But...

Ideally you want to have easy access to your pack while it's in the sled.

Most casual users would use their pack as a hauling harness, not separate in their sled. For easy access to the sled, cord is better than poles as you can walk back to your sled without taking off the harness. In rough ground where the sled may get stuck, or tip over if you've packed the centre of gravity too high, you want to be able to walk back to it easily.

Wiring or riveting something together may be "bomber" but if it breaks then it's difficult to repair. Using paracord to tie things together may not last long, but it's easily and quickly repaired when it does break.

+1

These are all ghetto sleds, just a sled with some cord and a sling to go around the chest.
I've only used sleds on my Alaska expeditions.