22″ Complete Kayak Crab Pot

Pinstriper, get yourself a length of stainless wire/rod of about 1/8th diameter.   Bend it into a square loop about 5" across.  If you can weld the ends together great do that. If not, just slip some clear tubing over one tip, and then line up the ends and slip half the tube over the other tip to secure them together. Apply some kind of glue to the tube to keep it from slipping apart.

Now, zip tie the hell out that square loop onto an area of the  crab pot mesh that does not have to fold over during closure.  Clip out the mesh that's inside the loop.  Finally take another length of stainless and make a 4" diameter circle out of it.
Now tie this circle inside the 5" square with your cotton twine.  Replace the string as needed. 

Pinstriper, get yourself a length of stainless wire/rod of about 1/8th diameter.   Bend it into a square loop about 5" across.  If you can weld the ends together great do that. If not, just slip some clear tubing over one tip, and then line up the ends and slip half the tube over the other tip to secure them together. Apply some kind of glue to the tube to keep it from slipping apart.

Now, zip tie the hell out that square loop onto an area of the  crab pot mesh that does not have to fold over during closure.  Clip out the mesh that's inside the loop.  Finally take another length of stainless and make a 4" diameter circle out of it.
Now tie this circle inside the 5" square with your cotton twine.  Replace the string as needed.

I really, really appreciate the amount of thought you've given to this. But I gotta believe it's more economical to just drop the $20 at Bi-Mart.

I'm not even sure where I would even find stainless rod, a metal bonding epoxy, and a ball of butcher twine for less than $20, even before labor.

In summation, I'm too cheap to spend the $80, and too lazy to make it myself. #merica.

But I will keep the idea alive in case I happen in passing to spot some stainless rod next time I'm at HD anyway.