Holy casabas! That's a lot of wood. I though my little pile I had stacked up before last winter was a lot. I don't even hold a candle to that.
Do you have a "local" Vocational school? They'll usually do it for free to get the experience for the kids! They used to fix and do stuff like that here... *Edit* Shame your not close, I have some 1" plate and a case of Beer, we'd have'r all fixed up!!!
X2 Even with cutting off the old plate and putting a piece of 1" there would be 1/2 that. Some things there are some businesses don't want to touch do to "liability" , that may be the issue...