Ben,
The thing about wetfooting, is once your socks get wet, you lose a lot of the cushion/thickness, and your feet can easily slide around in boots that aren't a close fit.  I always wear a liner, a mid-weight wool, and heavy wool hiking sock, and select those to fit very snugly when put on dry - if needed, I'll add a fourth pair of old, streched out hiking socks over the top to keep the fit snug.

I wonder if some of your problem came from the bungee cord laces not stayiing tight enough - i.e. they stretched while walking ?

I hated those on my quetico trekkers, and replaced with parachute cord.

Another thing I do on some boots, to keep the slack in the laces from migrating, is to use the first 4 or 5 sets of eyelets, and tie off there with a square knot, then finish lacing and tie off at the top.  Seems to me that without doing that, the slack tends to migrate to the bottom, around your foot, while the top of the boot gets tighter around the ankle.

other than the blisters, did you have any durability issues with the
Q. T.s -
last thing I've seen on those - oh maybe within the last few months, was some blog where the paddler had to use cable ties, thru slits cut into the toe box, to keep the sole from peeling off - that was after about three days of use or so with a brand new pair.