Not a dumb question. I just don't know firsthand.
My girls are pretty small (an infant and small toddler), the toddler was in the boat from launch to retrieval. I haven't had any seniors on my boat
I don't think they create too much space to span the gap but you have the ability to not fill them completely so they would be smaller.
Don't stress over knots, that's old school. Dock and boat2boat bungees are the way to go. The bungees are segmented so you can adjust for length based on where your cleat is relative to the cleat on the dock.
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