The Mk XVII was improved from earlier variants by way of the reinforced main undercarriage. This went some way towards taming the deck behaviour of the Mk XV, reducing the likelyhood of the propeller tips hitting the deck during an arrested landing, and the softer oleos stopped the aircraft from occasionally bouncing over the arrestor wires and into the crash barrier. In addition the wings were reinforced, with a stronger mainspar necessitated by the new undercarriage, and they were able to carry heavier underwing loads than previous Seafire variants.