Why the Nautilus system?

[minnow101]

The leaking is because the flexible hose is a bigger inner diameter than the fittings are designed for. IMO, flex hose won't freeze and burst any more than pex. The hard plastic fittings will go first..if they are 100% filled with water, but with blowing most of the water out, that won't happen.

Guess I agree to disagree on that one.

[IBEW Sparky]

@rob0615

I'm not sure what panel you have in your RV but I have a Nautilus System 2 panel in mine. Here's a picture of the backside of the valves... good luck figuring out the that catastrophe!

[WhittleBurner]

The KantLleak system everyone complained about was a lot simpler.

[minnow101]

My 2021 Imagine XLS, 22MLE has a leak in a PEX connection. I took it to Camping World for repair but they failed miserably twice. I am tackling it myself and would like to get a diagram of all the connections on the Nautilus panel, if anyone has it. Customer Service at GD said they did not have it..

You don't have the nautilus panel in your 22mle.

[rob0615]

You don't have the nautilus panel in your 22mle.

Agree. After a little more investigation, it is a drilled out piece of wood.

[51Turbo]

Wow, I absolutely love the Nautilus system! To me it's one of the best things about the trailer. Just look at the diagram, align the little colored tabs, and good to go. Of course I upgraded from a Forest River Rpod where the water pump and heater were under the bed and I had to wrestle a 10-in memory foam mattress out of it's tight spot in order to get under there to winterize or fix issues. And I recently camped with someone who accidentally hooked her fresh water fill hose to her black water flush fitting and proceeded to fill her "fresh water" tank. BIG ooops.......... The Nautilus is great.

[Hoopy Frood]

But, honestly, they could have upgraded your type of setup without resorting to the needless complexity of the Nautilus system. The first time you pull the wall down to fix a leak, you'll see what a rat's nest of hoses, clamps, and valves there are back there, and you'll be despondent.

[goducks14]

I'm in the keep it simple group. An outside fresh tank fill port where you can just stick a hose in a hole and refill with anything.
An outside port where you can simply hook up a city water hose. No valves to eventually fail.

[DougW9876]

Nautilus…a complicated solution to a simple problem.

[Tom Traveler]

Nautilus…a complicated solution to a simple problem.

I have a bit different perspective. The regulars on this forum are generally what is known as "handy". We have tools, knowledge, curiosity, and lots of experience with mechanical and electrical things. When we got our RV with the Nautilus P4, I had to know how the darn thing worked, so I did research and developed a valve diagram for the different functions and learned how the water flow worked for different settings. Turned out these were already available online. Did I need to know this? No, I'm just curious to the point of being obnoxious.

There are a lot of owners outside of this group. They don't care to understand how the valves are connected and why or when you would need to move the water heater bypass valve. They know they need to "winterize" or "sanitize" or that they want to "dry camp". And, WOW, all I have to do is move the switches to the shown position and I'm good to go. There is only one place to hook up a garden hose and that works for either filling the tank or using city water for the RV. Easy-peasy.

I know, I know, the black tank flush connection is right next to it and presents a very, very small (IMO) possibility of contamination it you incorrectly connect your supply hose to that fitting. Ultimately, that contamination risk exists all the way back to the supply spigot so where are you going to draw the boundary? They do have white and black color differentiation but they should still put a clear label on the inlets.

I've have plumbed a multi-story multiple bathroom house from the submersible pump to the septic tank and everything in between. Not bragging because I think many or most on this forum could do the same thing. Just providing an experience reference. I think the Nautilus is a great design concept and I like it even though I could easily design and build my own panel. The thing is idiot proof and takes up very little space for it's function.

The implementation of the concept is another issue. If you are going to put something like that in an RV in the place it is, it should be bulletproof. We also like to fix things ourselves and the Nautilus complicates that. I think most of us hate the idea of having to take something to a dealer to mess up further. Others would sooner take it to the dealer and not have to fuss with it themselves. I vote for the Nautilus.