Hi Geoff,
That is a great use case for Discourse, yes. If you want some additional resources for choosing a platform (you’ll likely not get an objective opinion here) then check out The CMX Guide to Community Platforms
As far as starting from scratch/launching a community goes, you’ll find all the reading you ever need (and more) here: Building an Online Community: The Ultimate List Of Resources
If you have specific questions then drop them here and I’d be happy to help.
Also check out Justin’s new Knowledge Base theme component: Knowledge Base That will help with ease of use when it comes to trawling through documentation.