Dave Butler wrote:
Read the regulations and interpret them literally.

What you get here will be opinions with no particular authority. If that's
what you want, here's my opinion:
If the two pilots agree beforehand that the safety pilot will act as PIC,
then the safety pilot can log PIC because he IS PIC,

Nope, being PIC is not sufficient for logging PIC time. However, you are
correct that the (PIC) safety pilot can log PIC - see 61.51(e)(iii).


and the pilot-flying can log PIC because he is the sole manipulator of the
controls.

....and is rated in that aircraft; e.g. I couldn't log PIC when doing my
multi-engine training.


More opinion: this is an unnecessary complication. Just fly the hours and
don't try to be tricky.

Not it's not. These hours can shave off lots of $$$ during training etc.
However, and this is a warning to all those reading, read the appropriate
insurance documentation to ensure that the safety pilot can be PIC and be in
the right seat (if that is where they would be sitting). For example, is
the safety pilot a member of the club? Is he/she current? Does he/she have
a medical? etc etc All these issue might void the coverage during that
flight so I would encourage all to do your homework on this point; i.e. get
a photocopy of the insurance doc, don't believe what the FBO folks tell you.


4) During training (with the instructor), how much flying, if any, is
performed in actual IMC? I ask because I would like to fly early in
the morning, and on most days, OAK is 1000' overcast until after 9am.

That depends on your instructor, and how much confidence he has in you
keeping the shiny side up.

I have to disagree with Bob here (see Bob's post in this thread). I believe
that training in IMC is vital. If the instructor wants to put all the IMC
right at the very end once the student is proficient, then fine, but I
believe it is a huge advantage to be in a cloud before passing the checkride
and doing this stuff without a CFI-I next to you. There is just no way that
being under the hood is anywhere as realistic as the real thing.

BTW: MRY often has some good IMC, you can even ask them to vector you around
and fly in that stuff all day. The approaches into MRY, SNS, and WVI are
often around 300-800 or so; I once went missed at SNS after descending VFR
and having the cloud bank below me.

Hilton