1/600th ACW Ironclads River Terrain

A few years ago I scratch built about a seven foot length of modular river terrain for an ACW ironclads project, using converted and scratch built 1/2400th scale models. In the end, after playing a few games, I realised that the 30cm wide boards were too narrow for this to work, as the turning circles of some of the larger boats was too wide. The games were good fun, using the  Dahlgren and Columbiad rules, but I packed up the boards and haven't done anything else with them since.

I'm now thinking of adapting them to use as modular river back sections for 1/600th scale ACW ironclad games. This would involve using a jigsaw to carefully cut off the river banks with about an inch of the river surface, then filing down the edges and repainting then as mud flats, giving me two 30cm / 12" river bank lengths from each board. It would also give me some river bends and islands, so a good selection of modular pieces with which to edge a table, with a terrain cloth underneath for the actual river channel. 

This would save a lot of bother making new terrain and help kickstart a 1/600th scale ACW ironclad project this year, something I've been meaning to do for ages. Not only that, I have stockpiled plenty of metal and resin models in 1/600th scale over the years, so the outlay would be absolutely minimal. I'll give this some more thought but I reckon I might be going down another naval project rabbit hole again, rather than a land based one, which is much more my cup of tea in the first place!