I can't speak for the speed. I do know that I took a getaway out on a rental once during a moderate breeze and had a hell of a good time. Never had to worry about pitchpoling it, and my little sister, who can be a scardy-cat at times, never was intimidated. The speed is slightly slower than a 16 imo.

As for the wear. The plastic hulls hold up just fine. In fact, they are probably going to look better longer than a fiberglass hull would. I know that on our club JY15s, whose hulls are ABS plastic, we fixed hull cracks with a heat gun and it turned out well. (Note: these boats are 12 years old)