For a 17ft boat, it's hard to beat the Minn Kota Terrova. I put one on my 16ft boat, and a friend has one on his 19ft Alumacraft. Another friend has a similar Minn Kota on his 17ft Lowe deep V. The spotlock feature is an added bonus.
If your friend doesn't want a trolling motor up front, I recommend the Lowrance Outboard Pilot cable steer pack. I have one on my Crestliner Sabre and it's awesome. He will need at least a Gen 3 Lowrance HDS or similar/newer model to control the Lowrance AP.