That may very well have been the case on the original, but this is not the case. According to the owners, the canoe was restored around 10 years ago with new canvas and gunwales. So the person who did it may have just copied what was on there originally without choosing the better option which would have been available. It was so poorly done in that he put a few extra screws in and completely missed ribs. Most were so rusted, there was nothing left of many of the screws. I know who that person is and so maybe this video is for them and I just needed to vent.
As for the tear down, I feel obliged to choose the fastest method of taking it apart and/or replacing with new since they are paying an hourly shop rate to fix their canoe. So in this case, it is faster for me to make new gunwales.