Rivets on gunwales

[Jpatten]

I have a shell lake canoe and it looks like I have 4 rivets on each side at the bow and stern holding on the gunwales. After looking closer and underneath the deck it appears that they are brass nails. How would you take them out? If you take a look at the picture of underneath the deck you can see the nail came out the bottom of the wood.

Here is a picture of the nail heads at the gunwales:

Picture under the deck:

 

[bob goeckel]

i have a sailboat with cut copper nails holding the rail on. the best way i found to remove it was to get a thin strong blade behind the rail itself and start to gently pry it away. once i found a nail that gave way it got easier to get the blade in and work my way around the rail. once the nails start to come you could get a pair of wire nips behind the head and pry there also using a wood backer behind the base of the nips.