Damaged gunwhales

I am going Sunday to pick up a cheap 1236 boat the issue is that it looks like a tree fell across the boat and bashed the gunwhales in on both sides. I am a welder and can readily weld aluminum but what is the best material to replace them with. Can you get some other sort of material to use my first thought was to find a piece of tubing of the same size and cut out the damaged section but after seeing the kind of ideas yall come up with I figured I'd ask here first.

how cheap, a 12/36 in good shape can be had pretty cheap.

200 bucks

With damaged gunwhales as you describe, I would think half that price would be more in order. As Bugpac said, you can find those in much better shape for $200.