Riveted vs welded boats is like 9mm vs .45 or beans or no beans. Each have their place.
A welded boat is more likely to crack along a weld if it is used in rough
water due to the constant flexing.
When our rental fleet purchased a bunch of riveted MirroCrafts I had nightmares
of bucking/repairing rivets all day. In reality, these boats were beat on hard in rough
water, bounced off rocks, flipped and generally mistreated for 10 years with no
issues with the rivets. These boats also sat in highly mineralized water all their lives
and no issues with the rivets.
I was so impressed with the Mirro riveted hull, I bought one when they were retired
last year.