At this time, unmanned surface boats are increasingly used for hydrographic and environmental protection studies of inland water bodies and coastal waters. The creation and use of this type of equipment is currently one of the main directions of developing technical means of studying the aquatic environment. A systematic approach was used to formulate the tasks of creating a boat, which involves considering the mutual influence of all significant components of the newly created vessel. From the standpoint of the system approach, the following set of tasks should be attributed to the general set of main tasks of creating a boat: • a set of problems of rational selection of the shape of the boat hull, which would meet the requirements for seaworthiness and ensure the fulfillment of the entire list of boat operation modes; • a set of tasks of choosing the main power plant and propulsion and steering complex of the boat, the integrated electric power system of the boat, which would ensure the optimization of storage processes and effective use of on-board energy in order to increase the time of the mission; • a set of tasks of synthesizing the boat's information and control support systems—automatic control of its safe movement, communication between the boat and the coastal control center, onboard scientific equipment, including underwater robots; • a set of systems synthesis tasks that ensure the effective use of a group of boats and the development of built-in diagnostic systems for boat equipment. The system approach makes it possible to formulate the main tasks of designing and building an unmanned surface boat, considering the mutual influence of design solutions for its systems. The proposed general set of the main problems of creating a boat and the obtained solutions to some problems of this set can serve as a theoretical basis for planning project work on creating a boat for the research of inland water bodies and coastal water areas.