Outwell Dunton Foldable Dish Rack Review

A foldable dish rack may not be the most exciting camping gadget 😉

However, it can provide some much-needed practicality if you are washing up at your tent, in your caravan, or motor home, and you don’t have anywhere to place the wet dishes. Believe me, it soon becomes annoying drying each plate immediately after you’ve washed it.

We bought a folding dish rack like the one below for our caravan. It has a plastic drip tray.

It works, but it’s bulky to store.

A typical folding dish rack

When camping, we’ve been using our Outwell Wash Base, which has a built-in drying rack. We’ve also used a slatted camping table in the past too.

Washing up in our camp kitchen using the slatted camping table as a dish rack.

The Outwell Wash Base has a built-in draining rack.

At the Outwell 2020 season launch, I saw this new Outwell Dunton Folding Dish Rack and being such an Outwell fan-boy, I just had to try it out. Fortunately, Outwell agreed and sent me one to review. Thanks, Outwell! 😀

The Outwell Dunton Dish Rack

This dish rack differs to many others in that it has a sponge drip base rather than a plastic one, which certainly keeps things simple. When folded, the rack is protected by the sponge and is simply held together with elastic.

The Outwell Dunton dish rack folded up.

Fortunately, you can easily remove the sponge base from the rack to let it dry. Otherwise, I can see this sponge getting rather smelly over time.

The sponge base absorbs drips. The rack can be removed from the base to let it dry.

You can also wash this sponge base in a washing machine.

You can also stick the sponge base in the washing machine.

The rack itself is straightforward. One side is for plates and simply folds out. There is even a holder for cutlery.

Using the Outwell Dunton Dishrack in our Caravan

For us, the Outwell Dunton Dishrack is ideal for our caravan.

When tent camping, we tend to use the site’s wash-up facilities, if available. However, when we have a caravan, we wash-up there rather than use the campsite’s facilities.

As mentioned before, our current caravan dishrack is less than ideal, and the Dunton dishrack is more compact and handles the drips better.

Using the Dunton Dish Rack in our caravan

The compactness here though was a slight problem. For a sink full of items from a family meal, the dishrack can’t hold it all at once.

Another issue I found was with the pop-up legs. They could do with being slightly larger to hold plates better as it is too easy to knock a plate and they all come tumbling down like dominoes.

The jury is still out on the sponge base. It worked really well and better than the plastic drip tray of our old rack. With the good weather we had, it was easy to dry on the line outside. However, if it had been wet, I wonder how much it would dry properly, and how long before it would start to smell.

The base is currently at home for washing with the rest of the rack in the caravan. I hope we remember to bring it with us the next time we go! 🙂

Drying the dish rack cloth at the campsite.

Verdict

The plastic of the dish rack feels strong.

The design is simple but looks reliable. And it doesn’t take up much space when folded.

The small size is both a good thing, as there’s not often a lot of space on camping tables, caravans, or motorhomes. But the small size can limit how much the rack holds, which may be a problem if you have a big family – but then a bigger family should have more people to help with the dishes 😉

The arms that hold the plates could do with being slightly longer as it is easy for plates to topple.

I’m also not convinced with the sponge base. Only a longer-term test will tell if it starts to smell or deteriorate. I’ll update this article if I notice any problems.

Alternatives

The RRP price for this is quite high. Though, as more stock appears in camping shops, I expect it will be available cheaper.

There are some alternatives available. I’ve already mentioned the Outwell Wash Base. This can not only work as a drying rack, but it’s also useful for when the campsite has a washup facility too.

The Outwell Wash Base

There are also some other silicone alternatives, such as this one from Amazon. I’ve not tried it though, so can’t vouch for it, but it has good reviews.

An alternative option I found on Amazon. Can’t vouch for its quality though.