More of a canoe query

This was my dads old mad river whitewater boat, he bolted a seat in the rear at one point, but that doesn’t matter anymore as the gunnels are rotten and need to be replaced. He passed last year, and it’s a cool unit. My first question for you all is should I trash the thing? Or should I restore it? Wood gunnels or “upgrade” to plastic or aluminum? Thanks for any advice guys.