Erik,
Thanks for giving your expert advice. The gearbox gets very little attention on the Forums. As the cars age, the gearbox issues will become more of an issue for Forum members. So your comments are useful and most welcome.
The cost of repair/rebuild for the 6 speed will also become more of an issue as the value of the cars declines but the cost of parts and labor increases.
So people will understandably try to do diy repairs . There have been very few diy gearbox repair threads here.
Transmission repair
Second gear problems on the six-speed gearbox - 986 Series (Boxster, Boxster S) - RennTech.org Forums
This was the best link- a long pdf of a complete 2nd gear repair and even a photo of the Kukko puller they used. but sadly it is now dead:
http://itguynetworks.com/articles/boxster/2002BoxsterSTransmissionRebuildDecember2011Revisio n3.pdf