Paddler:

I think all the advice you have been given is right on, especially the idea of getting him involved with the planning.  My first trip to the Q was in 1996 with three other men who had all been there before.  I knew absolutely nothing about the park, what to expect, etc.  They were purely fisherman so we entered at Stanton Bay early in the morning and paddled all the way down to Russell in one day if I remember correctly.  I had no map, no idea if we had 1 mile to go or 100 to get to our basecamp.  We were in whitecaps part of that first day, and to that point the only canoeing I had done had been floating down a river.  I was so ignorant.  Obviously the trip didn't ruin me on Quetico, and I ended up loving it, but that first day was not very enjoyable for me.  I think if i had had a marked map it would have helped me considerably to be able to keep track of our progress.  BTW my wife and I travel the park together now, and our ideal trip is almost no fishing and moving each day, but we would have never had the chance to find our own rhythm if not for that first trip.

As to your route, I love it.  Get an early start.  I have entered at Beaverhouse twice and had wind issues both times.  We were able to paddle through some rolling water the first time, but were windbound last year with nine strangers on one campsite not too far from the entrypoint.  They couldn't even make it to the ranger station to pick up their permit, but almost overturned trying to do it.  They ended up paddling back to our campsite.  

Have a great trip!