Bow support bar

[cliffpaul2]

In the nose of my V-20, I have a rusty support bar that connects the back of the bow eye to the bottom of the bow cleat that is on the top of the cabin. It is made with 1/2 inch all-thread and is not stainless or even galvanized metal. It has leaked and left a small mess inside. Mostly, the boat just needs to be dried out, but I'm going to have to replace all of the attached hardware (when I can figure out how to take it all apart. My questions are:

Is this support necessary?
Is it common for these boats?
Or was it a custom job done by a previous owner?

I've attached links to a couple of pictures. They were taken from the cabin door looking forward towards the nose of the boat. Thanks in advance.

Cliff

http://home.earthlink.net/~cliffp523...supportbar.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~cliffp523...barcloseup.jpg