Rusted out Rocker panels

I'm in the process of redoing my rockers with rectangular steel tube..

Few QQQ's first..

Most of my reading has lead me towards using 5" x 2" or 5" x 1-1/2".
But many different thicknesses 1/8", 3/16" and even 1/4".

What is the ideal thickness to use? I'm not sure if my heep will see a lot of rocks, more mudd'n than anything.

I figure the 5" width is good enough to weld directly to the pinch seam and still have a bit stick out passed the bottom of the doors

Is it a good idea to pre-weld a length of 1/8th angle bracket to the pinch seam?

I did mine and went with 4x2x3/16. I would say that if you aren't going to be doing rocks....then either 1/8 or 3/16. 3/16 is still pretty damn heavy.

For you, with 5x2x3/16.....at a rough 5 ft. length.....it would weigh 40.75 lbs per side....at least.

I wouldn't use anything smaller (vertically) than 2".

You can see my writeup here:
http://www.projectxj.com/mods/rocker.replacement.htm

Anyone else with some insight?
Which would be better 5" wide or 6" wide rectangular?