I recently moved from an 09 232 to a 17 242x with the articulating keel, and Cobra Venoms on it. Here's some observations on the 17:
1). It's a slow pig to respond while backing. It takes a long time to get any steering reaction out of her at all.
2). I don't have a need to have one engine in forward and the other in reverse in order to get her to spin. I
F I want her to turn leave both engines in forward and crank the wheel hard over, and she will basically turn in her own length.
3). The buckets on the 17 work differently than on the 09. On the 17, when in neutral with no wind/current, there is very little forward creep. When moving the throttles to the notch in forward, there is a little forward movement but the buckets aren't yet fully up out of the flow. From the notch, move one (or both) throttles forward about another 1/2 inch, and you can hear the water flow from the pumps change and it is truly in forward.
4). This thing really doesn't turn unless it's in forward. If I start a turn, then pull the throttles into neutral, the turn seems to stop.
5). When docking, I still feather the throttles from forward-neureal-reverse quite a bit. Lots of little adjustments
Anyway, those are some of the things I've noticed about this boat. In the long run,. It does handle much more like other boats, and less like a wandering jet boat.