Ok, it appears that I was able to get this working using code similar to the above..  For those curious, this is how I changed it...

     For Each Action As ModuleAction In ForumControl.NavigatorActions
        'Start of tag - Default
        RenderCellBegin(wr, "Forum_NavBarButton", "", "", "", "", "", "") '  

        'Determine if we need to have the target blank
        If (Action.Url.IndexOf("usersettings") > 0) Then
            RenderLinkButton(wr, Action.Url, Action.Title, "Forum_Link", "", True)
        Else
            RenderLinkButton(wr, Action.Url, Action.Title, "Forum_Link")
        End If

        'Render end tag - Default
        RenderCellEnd(wr) '
     Next

It isn't elegant, but it works!