Unlike their eventual successor, the 47-foot motor lifeboats, the 36-foot class was piloted entirely from an open cockpit, where crew members were exposed to the elements.

[2] The Type "T" has 10 watertight compartments, 6 below and 4 above the main deck, and includes buoyancy blocks made from cork; it is designed to be self-bailing.

3389, were held in May 1929, and field testing was carried out at Station Cobb Island, resulting in modifications to the rudder; the 36' MLB was able to self-right completely in six to seven seconds.

[4] Below the waterline, the prewar "TRS" boats had a simplified open rudder and propeller arrangement and internally, they continued with gasoline Sterling Petrel or Kermath Sea Farer engines; starting in 1946, new "TRS" boats were built with Buda-Lanova Model 6 DTMR-486 and Detroit Diesel 4-71 diesel engines instead.

[2] The most memorable rescue performed using a 36' MLB was that of crew members of the stricken SS Pendleton by CG 36500 under the command of Boatswain's Mate Bernard C.