hairpins to end-of-measure

[Kieren Richard MacMillan]

[ Mac OS X 10.2.8;  Lilypond 2.0.1 ]

Hello, all --

I'm trying to engrave hairpins which end at the end of a measure (i.e., 
rather than the downbeat of the following measure), and was wondering 
two things:

1. Is there a shorter way of getting the hairpins to extend to the very 
end of the measure than to use a bunch of \skip durations?
2. If not, does the addition of all those \skip durations affect the 
spacing of the measure at all? (From an informal visual survey, I would 
say no, but I'd like confirmation/proof.)

Thanks!
Kieren.