Discovered significant rocker panel rust on my van, thinking about options

[Vannautical engineer]

Well, I knew that my van had some rust on the rockers, but I got under there and really started poking around, pulling away the material that was totally rusted, and it's pretty bad. I did jack up the van from the area just in front of this rust hole, and it is solid. It lifts the front of the van without crushing or making noise. But clearly there's an area here where the rust has spread to some structural parts in the unibody. I'm thinking about welding in some additional metal on the inner structural member that has rust on it to shore it up.

I know that long term the van is probably toast. However, this rust has probably been largely present since I bought it a few years ago, I just didn't really tear into it to see how bad it is. And I have driven it across the country twice with no issues. So I don't think it's quite junkyard bound yet. The underbody, which also has frame rails molded into it, is mostly rust free. What do people think? Is it worth welding in some new metal here to get another year or so out of it?

 

[Gr8ful]

If you have the ability I'd replace the rockers & clean & coat the rest of the under body.